Anomalous polymer particles of narrow size distribution prepared by insertion and evaporation of Fe(CO)₅ from uniform polystyrene template microspheres

Uniform polystyrene template spherical particles of 2.5 ± 0.1 μm were prepared by dispersion polymerization of styrene in a mixture of ethanol and 2-methoxy ethanol. Uniform biphase hemispherical polystyrene/Fe(CO) ₅ particles were formed by swelling the polystyrene template particles dispersed in water with emulsion droplets containing mixtures of methylene chloride and different volumes of Fe(CO)₅, followed by evaporation of the methylene chloride. Additional evaporation of the Fe(CO) ₅ from the biphase polystyrene/Fe(CO)₅ particles leads to uniform anomalous shapes monodispersed polystyrene particles. The anomalous morphologies (dents, holes, and cupola) are dependent on the Fe(CO) ₅volume entrapped within the polystyrene particles. Evaporation of relatively high volume of Fe(CO)₅ leads to uniquely shaped pierced uniform particles. The described method may open the door for developing a new methodology for preparing PS particles of controlled morphologies, by insertion and then evaporation of various precursors from PS template particles.