Electromagnetic Interference Shielding Properties of Highly Flexible Poly(styrene-co-butyl acrylate)/PEDOT:PSS Films Fabricated by Latex Technology.

As the use of stretchable electronic devices increases, the importance of flexible electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding films is emerging. In this study, a highly flexible shielding film was fabricated using poly(styrene-co-butyl acrylate) (p(St-co-BA)) latex as a matrix and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) as a conductive filler, and then the mechanical properties and EMI shielding performance of the film were examined. Styrene and butyl acrylate were copolymerized to lower the high glass transition temperature and increase the ductility of brittle polystyrene. The latex blending technique was used to produce a shielding film in which the aqueous filler dispersion was uniformly dispersed in the emulsion polymerized resin. To determine the phase change in the copolymer matrix with temperature, the storage modulus was measured, and a time-temperature superposition master curve was constructed. The drying temperature of water-based copolymer resin suitable for film fabrication was set based on this curve. The glass transition temperature and flexibility of the blends were determined by evaluating the thermomechanical analysis and tensile tests. The EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) of the films was analyzed at frequencies from 50 MHz to 1.5 GHz, covering the VHF and UHF ranges. As the filler content increased, the SE of the blend film increased, but the elongation increased until a certain content and then decreased. The optimal content of PEDOT:PSS that satisfied both the ductility and shielding performance of the film was found to be 10 wt%. In this case, the elongation at break reached 300%, and the SE of a 1.6 mm thick film was about 35 dB. The film developed in this study can be used as an EMI shielding material that requires high flexibility.

Melt-spun modified poly (styrene-co-butyl acrylate) fiber as a carrier to support manganese oxide and its application in dye wastewater decolorization.

Polymer fiber, a kind of versatile material, has been widely used in many fields. However, emerging applications still urge us to develop some new kinds of fibers. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have created a promising prospect for organic wastewater decontamination; thus, it is of important significance to design a kind of special fiber that can be applied in AOPs. In this work, a viable route is proposed to fabricate manganese oxide-supporting melt-spun modified poly (styrene-co-butyl acrylate) fiber, and the prepared fiber has an excellent activity to catalyze H2O2 and O3 to decolorize dye-containing water. The results show that the decolorization of a cationic blue solution can be completely accomplished within 10 min with the prepared fiber as a catalyst, and its decolorization efficiency can reach up to 96.2% within 40 min. The concentration of total organic carbon can decrease from 20.3 to 12.3 mg/L. The prepared fiber can be reused five times without any loss in decolorization efficiency. Compared with other manganese oxide-based catalysts reported in the literature, the prepared fiber also shows many advantages in decolorizing methylene blue such as easy separation, mild reaction condition, and high decolorization efficiency. Therefore, we are confident that the fiber introduced in this study will exhibit a great application potential in the field of dye wastewater treatment.

The electrospinning of the copolymer of styrene and butyl acrylate for its application as oil absorbent.

Electrospun polystyrene materials have been employed as oil absorbents, but they have visible drawbacks such as poor strength at low temperature and unreliable integrity because of brittleness and insufficient cohesive force among fibers. Butyl acrylate can polymerize into flexible chains, and its polymer can be used as elastomer and adhesive material. Thereby it is possible to obtain the material that has better performance in comparison with electrospun polystyrene material through the electrospinning of the copolymer of styrene and butyl acrylate. In this work, a polymer was synthesized through suspension polymerization by using styrene and butyl acrylate as comonomers. The synthesis of the copolymer of styrene and butyl acrylate was verified through dissolution and hydrolysis experimental data; as well through nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry. The viscous flow activation energy of the solution consisting of copolymer and N, N-dimethylformamide was determined via viscosity method and then adopted to establish the entanglement characteristics of butyl acrylate's chain segments. Finally, in order to electrospin the copolymer solution into fibrous membrane, the effects of monomer feed ratio and spinning parameters were investigated. The prepared fibrous membrane was found to have a potential use as oil absorbent.

Stable poly(St-co-BA) nanoemulsion polymerization for high performance antibacterial coatings in the presence of dioctyldimethylammonium chloride.

In this study, a stable antibacterial poly(styrene-co-butyl acrylate) (poly(St-co-BA)) nano-latex was prepared in the presence of a dioctyldimethylammonium chloride (D821)-CTAB mixed surfactant and a novel bis-unsaturated Gemini comonomer (i.e., α,ω-hexanediyl bis(dimethyl methacrylamidopropyl ammonium bromide) (GMAP-6-MAP)) using a feasible and mild semicontinuous technology. The effects of the emulsifiers and GMAP-6-MAP on the properties and antibacterial activities of poly(St-co-BA) coatings were systematically investigated. The results indicate that an optimal monodispersed stable nanoemulsion was obtained with Dw=58.24nm and PDI=0.026, the emulsifier amount was 3.75% (D821/CTAB=4:1), and the GMAP-6-MAP amount was 1.5%. CTAB improved the stabilities and antibacterial activities of the poly(St-co-BA) nanoemulsions. The incorporation of GMAP-6-MAP into poly(St-co-BA) can enhance the antibacterial activity, improve the thermal stability of latex films, as well as the consistency among the chain segments, and decrease the roughness of latex films. This nanoemulsion exhibits effective antibacterial activity with MBCs of 2µg·mL(-1) against Staphylococcus aureus and 16µg·mL(-1) against Escherichia coli. The sterilization rates of the optimized latex film reached 100% against S. aureus and 98.74% against E. coli, which indicated that this latex film could be utilized as an outstanding antibacterial coating.