Self film-forming and opaque hollow latexes fabricated via seeded emulsion polymerization followed by alkali post-treatment

In order to obtain novel hollow latexes with both opaque and self film-forming properties, the four-layer core/shell latex particlessequentially consisting of a high carboxyl-containing soft core, a transition layer, a rigid supporting layer, and an outermost film-forming layerare first designed and prepared by emulsion polymerization, and then treated with alkali to fabricate self film-forming hollow latexes. On the basis of the previous research on the three-layer core/shell latex, influences of the composition and thickness of the film-forming layer on the properties and morphologies of the four-layer core/shell and the final hollow latexes are investigated. Results show that under optimized conditions with butyl acrylate/styrene (BA/St) mass ratio of 2/1, divinyl benzene (DVB) content of 1 wt %, and core/film-forming layer mass ratio of 1/6 in the film-forming layer preparation, the final hollow latex particles exhibit best morphology considering both light scattering efficiency and film-forming capability at room temperature. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 42541.