Optical detection of the morphology of hollow polymer particles prepared from seeded emulsions in the presence of n-octanol

Micron-sized hollow polymer particles and hollow particles with a single hole in the surface were prepared using seeded polymerization in the presence of n-octanol. The influence of the reaction time on polymer morphology, the content of the cross-linking agent divinylbenzene (DVB), and the amount of n-octanol was discussed. The hollow particles prepared in the present study were characterized by optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A single hole was observed in the shell of the hollow particles prepared by the same seeded polymerization with a shorter swelling time and activities. The mechanism of single-hole hollow morphology formation proposed that phase separation occurred between the shell and the core at the polymerization stage. The relatively small diameter of the shell was fixed in polymerization under the shorter swelling time and activities resulted in the formation of the single-hole structure.