Synthesis of Salt Responsive Spherical Polymer Brushes

Abstract

A facile preparation of novel salt responsive spherical polymer brushes (SPB) consisting of a carbon spheres core and a shell of sodium polystyrene sulfonate (PSSNa) was described. The SPB were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The radius R of carbon spheres and hydrodynamic radius R h of SPB were ca. 370 nm and 785 nm, respectively. The brushes had M w of 393600 g/mol with polydispersity M w / M n of 1.58. Furthermore, the dependence of PSSNa brushes on ionic strength and pH was investigated.