Abstract
The facile synthesis of microcrystalline polyacrylic acid (PAA) gels via emulsion polymerization is presented and the effects of experimental factors that determine the microcrystallization of PAA microgels were investigated. Both reaction temperature and emulsifier type play important roles in the crystallization of PAA microgels. Selected-area electron diffraction and X-ray diffraction patterns show that the PAA microgels formed using sodium dodecyl sulfate as emulsifier are single-crystallized, and low reaction temperature favors the formation of the PAA microgels with high crystallinity. Controlling the reaction temperature may also improve morphology controllability by emulsion polymerization in synthesizing microcrystalline PAA gels. In addition, the microcrystalline PAA gels exhibit good Young’s modulus, which is 7.8 times higher than that of the PAA microgels.
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