The melamine (polymethylenemelamine) nanospheres and microspheres are made from crosslinked melamine and have some advantages depending on the application compared to polystyrene particles. They have a higher density ( 1.51g/cm
3), are very stable, can be stored indefinitely, can be re-suspended in water, they do not swell or shrink in most organic solvents and are heat resistant up to 300°C. These monodisperse (CV 1-2%) melamine microparticles are hydrophilic and shipped as a water suspensions. The refractive index is 1.68.
Surface of plain melamine microparticles are terminated with methylol groups, which could be readily functionalized in desired manner.
Currently, we offer melamine nanospheres in the 500-950nm and microspheres in the 1-10μm ranges. Other smaller, intermediate and larger sizes could be also prepared.
Scanning Electron Microscopy image of 1.50μm Melamine- microspheres 