The mechanism of charging polymer colloids in low dielectric media
Fifteen years ago, a group from Harvard published a landmark paper reporting that Aerosol OT (AOT) surfactant could be used to charge sterically-stabilised poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) latexes in nonpolar solvents.1 Due to the low dielectric constants of typical oily media, charged species interact over long length scales.2. Previous studies employed colloids with sizes matched to the Q-range of SANS (diameter <100 nm), which are in fact smaller than those used in real-life applications (diameter 100 nm to 5 µm) such as electrophoretic displays (electronic paper).3 This size discrepancy has resulted in contradictory interpretations of SANS data obtained by our group (surfactant absorbed in the particle cores)4,5 and another group (surfactant adsorbed on the particle surfaces)6. We will resolve this discrepancy in this experiment by studying larger latex particle sizes relevant to applications, which furthermore have form factors that will allow a better differentiation between the absorption and adsorption charging mechanisms.
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EASTOE Julian; BROK Erik Stieper; LEMMEL Hartmut; MOODY Georgina; PREVOST Sylvain; RAHMAN ADHIP; Ilona E Serafin and Gregory N. Smith. (2021). The mechanism of charging polymer colloids in low dielectric media. Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) doi:10.5291/ILL-DATA.9-12-620
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