Fluorine containing self-crosslinking acrylic latexes with reduced flammability and their application as polymer binders for heterogeneous cation-exchange membranes

Abstract

In this study, self-crosslinking core-shell latexes comprising copolymerized perfluorethyl groups and a novel flame retardant based on phosphazene derivative were prepared by the semi-continuous emulsion polymerization. The heterogeneous cation-exchange membranes were obtained by dispersing commercial strong acid cation-exchange resin powder in the latex binder and casting the mixture. It was found that the increased concentration of fluorine atoms and phosphazene units in the macromolecular structure of interfacially crosslinked emulsion polymers resulted in a significant enhancement of their flame resistance and shape stability in aqueous environment. Moreover, the easily prepared heterogeneous cation-exchange membranes based were shown to exhibit satisfactory physicochemical and electrochemical properties.