Synthesis of Salt Responsive Spherical Polymer Brushes

A facile preparation of novel salt responsive spherical polymer brushes (SPB) consisting of a carbon spheres core and a shell of sodium polystyrene sulfonate (PSSNa) was described. The SPB were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The radius of carbon spheres and hydrodynamic radius of SPB were ca. 370 nm and 785 nm, respectively. The brushes had of 393600 g/mol with polydispersity / of 1.58. Furthermore, the dependence of PSSNa brushes on ionic strength and pH was investigated.