Synthesis and characterization of charged polystyrene-acrylic acid latex particles

Novel, monodisperse charged colloidal particles of polystyrene cross linked with divinylbenzene and surface-grafted with acrylic acid were synthesized by emulsion polymerization and were characterized by estimating the dissociable surface charge by conductivity titration, the particle effective charge by conductivity verses particle concentration, and the particle size by dynamic light scattering and atomic force microscopy. The structural ordering and dynamics were investigated as a function of the volume fraction of the particles using static and dynamic light scattering, respectively. Furthermore, from the electrophoresis measurements, these particles are found to have a high salt tolerance due to increases in charge as a function of salt concentration.