PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SIO2/POLY(METHYL METHACRYLATE) CORE/SHELL NANOCOMPOSITES VIA RAFT POLYMERIZATION

Abstract

This article describes the fabrication of SiO2 nanoparticles grafted with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) via a fascinating reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization by adopting “grafting from” approach. The silane coupling agent, S-benzyl S’-trimethoxysilylpropyltrithiocarbonate, was anchored onto SiO2 nanoparticles in a simple procedure using a ligand exchange reaction. RAFT agents-anchored SiO2 nanoparticles were then used for the surface-initiated RAFT polymerization of MMA to fabricate structurally well-defined, core-shell SiO2-g-PMMA nanocomposites. The structure and properties of the as-synthesized nanocomposites were investigated by Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectrophotometry (FT-IR), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM).