Preparation And Properties Of Reactive Dye / P (St-BA-VBT) Composite Nanospheres

Dye/polymer composite nanospheres could be widely used in biomedical, electronic displays, new materials and other areas, due to its large specific surface area and excellent color performance. Cationic poly(styrene(St)-butyl acrylate(BA)-vinylbenzyl trimethylammonium chloride(VBT)) nanospheres were synthesized by soap-free emulsion polymerization. Reactive dye/P(St-BA-VBT) composite nanospheres were prepared through dyeing P(St-BA-VBT) nanospheres with reactive red 195. The composite nanospheres were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, nano-particle size and Zeta potential analyzer etc. We also investigated the adsorption capacity and adsorption mechanism of the reactive Red 195 on the P(St-BA-VBT) nanospheres. The prepared composite nanospheres were used to dye cotton fabrics.The results show that the particle size of the P(St-BA-VBT) nanospheres with 0.5mmol VBT increased from 130.9nm to 143.7nm after dyeing. The particle size of the P(St-BA-VBT) nanospheres with 2.0 mmol VBT increasedfrom 83.2nm to 113.6nm,and the glass transition temperature increased from 90.7℃to 91.7℃. The Zeta potential of reactive dye/P(St-BA-VBT) composite nanospheres gradually decreased with increasing the amount of dye, and finally became negative, which indicates that reactive dyes/P(St-BA-VBT) composite nanoparticles with different surface charges can be obtained by adjusting the dye amount used in the dyeing process. Increasing the dye amount, dyeing temperature and dyeing time, and reducing the bath pH value resulted in increasing the adsorption capacity of dyes on the P(St-BA-VBT) nanospheres. The adsorption process of reactive dye molecules on the nanospheres was in accordance with the Langmuir model, which was a spontaneous, irreversible and endothermic process. The color of cotton fabric dyed with reactive dyes/P(St-BA-VBT) composite nanoparticles was deeper than the sample dyed with the same amount of dyes, which implies that the coloration of cotton fabrics using the composite nanoparticles could enhance the dye utility and reduce the wastewater emission.