Silica encapsulation by miniemulsion polymerization: A novel approach of efficient chemical functionalization on silica nanoparticles

Published Date

19 August 2016, Vol.98:182–189, doi:10.1016/j.polymer.2016.06.033

Title 

Silica encapsulation by miniemulsion polymerization: A novel approach of efficient chemical functionalization on silica nanoparticles

• Author 

• Abdolreza mirmohseni ^a,,
• Ali Gharieh ^a,,
• Manouchehr Khorasani ^b,

• aDepartment of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
• bDepartment of Polymer Engineering and Color Technology, Amirkabir University of Technology Tehran Polytechnic, Tehran, Iran

Received 24 February 2016. Revised 5 June 2016. Accepted 14 June 2016. Available online 15 June 2016.

Highlights

• •
  A new, efficient and cost effective two-step surface modification of silica nanoparticles was developed.
• •
  Latexes with different amount of highly dispersed modified particles obtained via miniemulsion polymerization.
• •
  The dried film of nanocomposite latexes showed superior thermal stability and thermo-mechanical properties.

Abstract

Hybrid latex particles with core-shell nanostructure were prepared via miniemulsion polymerization. Copolymer of (methyl methacrylate-butyl acrylate-methacrylic acid) was formed the shell on the surface of modified SiO₂ nanoparticles as the core. In order to create compatibility between inorganic and polymeric phases, modification of SiO₂ nanoparticles was performed with methylene diphenyl diisocyanate and 2-hydroxy ethyl methacrylate with an optimized procedure for the first time, and then miniemulsion polymerization was carried out in the presence of modified SiO₂. The products of each step were characterized. The results of DLS, TEM and SEM analyses proved the formation of encapsulated hybrid latex particles. DLS and SEM data revealed that the sizes of nanocomposite particles vary between 60 and 120 nm for 0–10 wt% of the modified SiO₂ nanoparticles. Thermal stability and thermo-mechanical properties of the obtained nanocomposite films were studied by TGA and DMTA, respectively. It was found that the best improvement of properties is achieved for nanocomposite containing 7 wt% modified silica nanoparticles.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

• Encapsulation
• Modified SiO₂
• Miniemulsion polymerization
• Acrylic
• Nanocomposite

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• ∗ 
  Corresponding author.

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