Facile one-step fabrication of polymer microspheres with high magnetism and armored inorganic particles by Pickering emulsion polymerization

Facile one-step Pickering emulsion polymerization was employed to prepare magnetic polymer microspheres with high magnetism and armored inorganic particles. Partially hydrophilic CTAB-modified Fe₃O₄ particles were employed as stabilizer of Pickering emulsion and were armored on the as-prepared microspheres, while totally hydrophobic oleic acid-modified Fe₃O₄ particles were encapsulated in the obtained microspheres. The microspheres were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray microanalyses (EDX) and magnetic measurements. Total Fe₃O₄, encapsulated Fe₃O₄ and armored Fe₃O₄ were detected and catalytic activity of microspheres for Fenton reaction was evaluated. The results showed that steady barrier formed by CTAB-modified Fe₃O₄ on droplet surface can prevent oleic acid-modified Fe₃O₄ from escaping away the polymerization vessel, which lead to an efficient encapsulation to oleic acid-modified Fe₃O₄. The encapsulated Fe₃O₄ enables the microspheres to be separated by external magnetic field and the armored Fe₃O₄ endows the composites with special catalytic property.