Effect of surface treatment of magnetic particles on the preparation of magnetic polymer microspheres by miniemulsion polymerization

Surface treated magnetic particles were used to prepare well encapsulated submicron polystyrene/magnetic (PS/Fe3O4) composite microspheres via miniemulsion polymerization. The effects of the different surface treatment agents Disperbyk-106, Disperbyk-111, KH550, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and oleic acid were investigated on the encapsulation of polymer via miniemulsion polymerization. The interface interactions between magnetic particles, dispersants and coupling agents were analyzed from their IR spectra. It was found that Disperbyk-106 was the best dispersant in terms of preparing magnetic polymer microspheres with high encapsulation efficiency. The effect of wet or dry magnetic particles on encapsulation was also discussed. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.