Porous nanoparticles produced by solvent-free emulsification
AssigneeXerox Corporation
InventorsDavid John William Lawton, Santiago Faucher
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Abstract
The process for manufacturing porous nanoparticles disclosed herein includes feeding a dry-blended mixture of at least one resin and a neutralizing agent into a feed section of a screw extruder, injecting a surfactant solution downstream of the hopper, and adding an aqueous composition both directly after the surfactant solution as well as further downstream. Porous nanoparticles having a particle size of from about 50 nm to about 2 μm and a pore diameter of from about 20 nm to about 400 nm may be continuously recovered from the extruder following this process.
Claims9
A process for producing porous nanoparticles, the process comprising:
- continuously adding a resin composition comprising at least one resin to a feed section of a screw extruder, wherein the screw extruder is segmented and at least one of the segments is heated to a temperature of from 70° C. to 200° C.;
- adding a first aqueous solution comprising a surfactant to the resin composition to form a water-in-oil emulsion in the screw extruder which results in the surfactant within the resin;
- adding a second aqueous solution comprising deionized water to the water-in-oil emulsion in the screw extruder to form a water-in-oil-in-water double emulsion comprising porous nanoparticles having cell walls with a cell wall thickness in the range of from about 10 nm to about 50 nm;
- and
- recovering porous nanoparticles from the double emulsion in the screw extruder;
- wherein the porous nanoparticles have a particle size of from about 50 nm to about 2 μm and a pore diameter of from about 20 nm to about 400 nm;
- wherein each of the solutions and the composition utilized during the process of forming the porous nanoparticles are substantially free of organic solvents.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.