The Regulation of Emulsion Polymerization with Fluorocarbon–Hydrocarbon Emulsifiers Mixture

The emulsion polymerization of styrene using a mixture of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and lithium fluorooctane sulfonate (LiFOS) has been studied. The polymerization rate decreased upon increasing the mole fraction of LiFOS, and was dependent on the solubilized amount of styrene in mixed surfactant solutions of SDS and LiFOS. The particle size increased upon increasing the mole fraction of LiFOS on the whole, and the molecular weight of the polymer formed in latices decreased upon increasing the mole fraction of LiFOS. Furthermore, the molecular-weight distribution of the latex polymer formed in mixed emulsifier solutions was considerably wider than that of the latex polymer formed in a single-emulsifier solution. It was confirmed from the above results that LiFOS had a repressive effect on the polymerization rate, and that it affected the number of particles and the molecular weight in the emulsion-polymerization process.