Polyhedral Vinyl Polymer Particles Synthesized Via Solvent-Free Radical Polymerization.

ABSTRACT

Liquid marbles (LMs) with a cubic shape are created by using various vinyl monomers as an inner liquid and polymer plates with mm size as a stabilizer. The relationship between the surface tension of the vinyl monomers and formability of the LMs is investigated. LMs can be fabricated using vinyl monomers with surface tensions of 42.7-40.3 mN m-1. The cubic polymer particles are successively synthesized via free-radical polymerizations by irradiation of the cubic LMs with UV light in a solvent-free manner. In addition, controlling the number of polymer plates per one LM, the shape of the plate or the coalescence of the LMs can lead to production of polymer particles with desired forms (e.g., Platonic and rectangular solids) that correspond to the shapes of the original LMs.