Thermal insulation coatings based on microporous particles from Pickering emulsion polymerization

Abstract

Microporous polystyrene spheres (MPS) by Pickering emulsion polymerization were successfully prepared in this work. The emulsions were stabilized by amino functionalized silica nanoparticles and the mesoporous structure was induced by iso-octane. In order to verify that the prepared MPS have a porous structure, the morphology and pore size were studied by SEM and BET, and near infrared light reflectivity and visible light transmittance of the coatings with microspheres in epoxy soybean oil acrylic resin coating was also measured. And through the thermal conductivity and heat transfer rate test, the thermal insulation properties of MPS filled coating was systematically studied. Compared with traditional hollow glass microbeads, the coating prepared by adding MPS has higher near infrared reflectivity, better visible light transmittance and comparable thermal insulation ability. The results show that the introduction of MPS will make the coating have a low thermal conductivity and high light and heat shielding performance, thereby improving the thermal insulation performance of the coating. The MPS prepared in this work can server as a novel functional filler for coatings of thermal insulation application, which can save energy consumption in a range of fields.