Mechanism of polymer particles formation during the soap-free emulsion terpolymerization of styrene - acrylic acid – N -(isopropyl acrylamide) for photonic crystals fabrication

This study presents the synthesis and characterization of a styrene (ST), acrylic acid (AA), and N-(isopropyl acrylamide) (NiPAM) terpolymer obtained by a soap-free emulsion process. The influence of AA/NiPAM ratio on the reaction mechanism and the reaction kinetics was investigated. Thus, the polymerization rate increases with the concentration of NiPAM in the substrate. The obtained polymer colloids permitted the fabrication of photonic...