Novel preparation of magnetite/polystyrene composite particles via inverse emulsion polymerization

In this paper, super-paramagnetic magnetite/polystyrene (PSt) composite particles were prepared by inverse emulsion polymerization with water-based magnetic ferro-fluid as dispersing phase and organic solvent and styrene (St) as continuous phase. And the mechanism of the nucleation was discussed. The influence of factors, such as the monomer content, the amount of the ferro-fluid and the different continuous phases on the morphology of the magnetite/polystyrene composite particles was studied. The final products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Magnetic hysteresis loop measurements revealed that the composite particles were super-paramagnetic.