Author(s)

Jun-Won Kook^1,2, Ji Young Lee², Ki Seob Hwang², In Park², Jung Hyun Kim¹, Jun-Young Lee²

¹Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
²IT Convergence Materials Group, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Cheonan, Republic of Korea.

Unlike previous emulsion polymerization, we used grafting reactions in soap-free emulsion systems. In this study, we synthesized grafted PMMA/PEI core-shell nanoparticles by varying the MMA/PEI content and molecular weight of PEI (M_n = 600, 8000, and 10,000). The size and morphology of the core-shell nanoparticles were characterized by a particle size analyzer and scanning electron microscopy. The nanoparticles were 178 - 408 nm in diameter and swelled in water or methanol by 30 - 75 nm. The size of the nanoparticles increased with MMA contents, whereas the size distribution progressively became homogeneous with increasing molecular weight of PEI. Lastly, we measured CO₂ adsorption capacity of the grafted PMMA/PEI core-shell nanoparticles, and we found the capacity to be limited at a level of 0.69 mg, which occurred for nanoparticles prepared from emulsions at a pH value of 11.

Polyethylenimine, Core-Shell Nanoparticle, CO₂ Adsorption, Grafting Reaction, Soap-Free Emulsion

Kook, J. , Lee, J. , Hwang, K. , Park, I. , Kim, J. and Lee, J. (2016) Synthesis and Characterization of Poly (Methyl Methacrylate)/Polyethylenimine Grafting Core-Shell Nanoparticles for CO₂ Adsorption Using Soap-Free Emulsion Copolymerization. Advances in Materials Physics and Chemistry, 6, 220-229. doi: 10.4236/ampc.2016.67022.