Karrar Aya A, Taha Fouad, Essawy Hisham A, Dyab Amro K F, El-Mageed Ahmed I A Abd
Colloids and Advanced Materials Group, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Minia University, Minia, 61519, Egypt.
Department of Polymers and Pigments, National Research Centre, Dokki, Cairo, 12311, Egypt.
Sci Rep. 2025 Mar 3;15(1):7407. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-90345-0.
The current work describes a novel route for preparation of robust polymeric monolithic structures exhibiting magnetic properties via emulsification of a polar glycerin oil in a polymerizable hydrophobic oil of styrene as oil/oil (o/o) emulsion technique. Hydrophilic magnetite nanoparticles were first prepared via the co-precipitation method and then converted to organophilic using oleic acid as a surface coating material. The FT-IR provided evidence on the covering of the particle's surface and also revealed some hydrophilic OH groups co-exist, implying a probable amphiphilic character is acquired. The organophilic particles act efficiently as Pickering stabilizers for glycerin/styrene emulsion systems. Styrene, a polymerizable oil, could be subsequently polymerized at 70 °C in the presence of an oil-soluble thermal initiator such as 1,1-azobiscyclohexanecarbonitrile (vazo). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirmed the formation of well-defined, highly porous polymeric monoliths, in which the distribution of the pores within the monolith further supported that they were prepared via well-emulsified glycerin drops in the styrene phase as a precursor. Additionally, the EDX revealed the presence of the iron element distributed evenly within the monolith. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed a slight resistance to thermal degradation over a narrow range up to 150 °C with respect to pure polystyrene, whereas beyond this temperature the degradation behavior proceeded almost typically as for pure polystyrene. The ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy (FMR) indicated the acquisition of the magnetic property by the produced monolith structure. For the best of our knowledge, it is the first article of its type investigating the fabrication of polymeric monolithic structures from non-aqueous emulsions.
当前的工作描述了一种通过在可聚合的疏水性苯乙烯油中乳化极性甘油油作为油/油（o/o）乳液技术来制备具有磁性的坚固聚合物整体结构的新途径。首先通过共沉淀法制备亲水性磁铁矿纳米颗粒，然后使用油酸作为表面涂层材料将其转化为亲有机性的。傅里叶变换红外光谱（FT-IR）提供了颗粒表面被覆盖的证据，还揭示了一些亲水性羟基共存，这意味着可能获得了两亲性特征。亲有机性颗粒有效地充当甘油/苯乙烯乳液体系的皮克林稳定剂。随后，可聚合的油苯乙烯在油溶性热引发剂如1,1-偶氮双环己烷甲腈（偶氮）存在下于70℃聚合。扫描电子显微镜（SEM）证实形成了明确的、高度多孔的聚合物整体，其中整体内孔的分布进一步支持它们是通过在苯乙烯相中良好乳化的甘油滴作为前体制备的。此外，能量色散X射线光谱（EDX）显示铁元素均匀分布在整体内。热重分析（TGA）表明，相对于纯聚苯乙烯，在高达150℃的窄温度范围内对热降解有轻微抗性，而超过该温度后，降解行为几乎与纯聚苯乙烯相同。铁磁共振光谱（FMR）表明所制备的整体结构具有磁性。据我们所知，这是同类研究中第一篇关于从非水乳液制备聚合物整体结构的文章。
