The objective of this paper is to present a dynamic Monte Carlo model that is able to simulate the polymerization of styrene with bifunctional free-radical initiators in a batch reactor. The model can predict the dynamic evolution of the chain length distribution of polystyrene in the reactor. The model includes all relevant polymerization mechanistic steps, including chemical and thermal radic...

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, with an average size of about 45 nm, were encapsulated by polystyrene using in situ nitroxide mediated radical polymerization   in the presence of 3-aminopropyl triethoxy silane (APTES) as a coupling agent and 2, 2, 6, 6-tetramethylpiperidinyl-1-oxy  as a initiator. First, the initiator for NMRP was covalently bonded onto the surface of Titanium dioxide na...

Electric-field assisted free-radical polymerization allows controlling the stereochemistry of produced polymers.

Overcoming the challenge of metal contamination in traditional ATRP systems, a metal-free ATRP process, mediated by light and catalyzed by an organic-based photoredox catalyst, is reported. Polymerization of vinyl monomers are efficiently activated and deactivated with light leading to excellent control over the molecular weight, polydispersity, and chain ends of the resulting polymers. Signifi...

Benzoin, a popular photoinitiator for free radical polymerization of vinyl monomers, was improved by introduction of two methyl thioether substituents. This new benzoin derivative showed an about 50 times higher light absorption in the near-UV spectral region and performed better than the unsubstituted benzoin in polymerization experiments in bulk solutions or films of acrylate monomers when lo...

Frontal polymerization is a process of converting a monomer into a polymer by means of a self-propagating thermal reaction wave. We study initiation of polymerization waves by a high temperature heat source. A five species reaction model is considered with a focus on the evolution of two of these species and the temperature of the mixture. The temperature is tracked from the inert heating to th...