Preparation of polystyrene spheres in different particle sizes and assembly of the PS colloidal crystals

• DOI: 10.1007/s11431-010-4110-5
• Publication Date: 2010-10-16T07:43:19Z
• Authors: JunFei Fang; YiMin Xuan; Qiang Li
• Keywords: 01 natural sciences; 0104 chemical sciences

Monodisperse polystyrene (PS) colloidal spheres were successfully prepared through emulsifier-free emulsion polymerization by controlling the polymerization reaction time, ionic strength of the system, concentration of the ionic copolymer (sodium p-styrenesulfonate) and other factors. The PS colloidal spheres were assembled into colloidal crystals whose structures were mainly face-centered cubic (fcc) close-packed. Then FDTD method was used to calculate the color-rendering characteristics of the colloidal crystals surface. The calculated results were consistent with the experimental results.