Monodisperse plum‐like sulfonated PGMA‐DVB microspheres as a new ion exchange resin

ABSTRACT Monodisperse plum‐like crosslinked poly(glycidyl methacrylate‐ co ‐divinyl benzene) (PGMA‐DVB) microspheres were prepared by dispersion polymerization using glycidyl acrylate as monomer and divinyl benzene as crosslinking agent, and then sulfonated by sulfonation process with phosphorus pentoxide to increase the grafting ratio. The morphology and composition of microspheres were characterized by scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive analysis of X‐rays (SEM‐EDX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and BET surface area analyses. The average sizes of PGMA microspheres and PGMA‐DVB microspheres were 2.18 and 2.52 μm, respectively. The effect of DVB content on the properties of microspheres was investigated and the experimental results indicate that the microspheres prepared with DVB content have crinkled surface with large specific surface area, and with the increase of the DVB content, the average size of the microspheres become larger and the particle size distribution become wider. The as‐prepared sulfonated PGMA‐DVB microspheres were used to remove the copper (II) ion in solution and the maximum adsorption capacity was 75.08 mg/g. This work provides an effective but simple method for a controllable preparation of polymer microspheres with rough surface and high specific surface area, and it could be a new kind of ion exchange resin after sulfonation. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134 , 44994.