Role of Anionic Surfactants in the Synthesis of Smart Microgels Based on Different Acrylamides.

Abstract

We investigated the influence of two anionic surfactants, namely, sodium dodecyl sulfate and sodium decyl sulfate, on acrylamide-based microgels consisting of N-n-propylacrylamide. In this context, the main focus was on the influence of surfactant addition on the size of the microgels. The surfactant was added to the reaction mixture before or during the polymerization at different points in time. Microgels were characterized via photon correlation spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. All results were compared to those for other more common acrylamide-based microgels consisting of N-isopropylacrylamide and N-isopropylmethacrylamide. A significant difference between the three microgels and a strong dependence on the surface activity of the surfactant was found.