An acrylic–silica hybrid polymeric nanocomposite, comprising well‐distributed silica nanoparticles in acrylic matrix, has been synthesized at a markedly rapid rate from a dendritic acrylic oligomer (DAO) and an acrylic‐functionalized silica (A‐silica) via UV‐curing. A‐silica was made by functioning colloidal silica nanoparticles with 3‐methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (MATMS) and DAO was formed by reacting 1,5‐diamino‐2‐methylpentane (MPMDA) with trimethylopropane triacrylate (TMPTA). The MATMS has been found either doubly or singly bonded to silica nanoparticles but not triply bonded, and the inclusion of MATMS into the siloxane network structure increases the size of silica nanoparticles. The well distribution of A‐silica and its good compatibility with DAO cause an increase in Td of the acrylic–silica hybrid material. Silica nanoparticles are too small to cause any significant light scattering, and do not have deleterious effects on transparency. The “hybrid‐on‐polyethylene terephathalate” films exhibited satisfactory hardness and surface roughness because of silica nanoparticles. The preparation as well as the characterization of the constituting species and the final hybrid material are described in detail. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 8149–8158, 2008

A series of light-emitting alternating copolymers, poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-alt-thiophene) (PDOFT), end-capped with in situ reduced gold nanoparticles have been synthesized (PDOFT-Au). The 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR spectra corroborate the well-defined structures, and the XPS spectrum serves as direct evidence for the chemical bonding of gold nanoparticles with PDOFTs. All PDOFT-Au(s) are not only soluble in common organic solvents but also have good thermal stability up to 380–410 °C. The micrographs of TEM show that the size of gold nanoparticles grows up to 20 nm and the particles aggregate into blocks with an increasing quantity of HAuCl4. The colour coordinates of PDOFT-Au10 and PDOFT-Au15, (0.237, 0.655) and (0.272, 0.649), respectively, are getting close to the standard green (0.26, 0.65) demanded by the National Television System Committee (NTSC). In conjunction with their good luminescence properties and photometric efficiencies, PDOFT-Au10 and PDOFT-Au15 are good candidates for green light-emitting materials. PDOFT with a higher content of gold nanoparticles, such as PDOFT-Au30, affords a high current density, and thus is a potential candidate for solar cell or organic thin film transistor (OTFT) devices.

An organic-inorganic hybrid polymeric nanocomposite has been synthesized for making UV-curable hard coats. This nanocomposite consists of nano-sized colloidal silica functionalized with vinyltriethoxysilane (VTES) and dendritic acrylic oligomers (DAO) which have been formed earlier via a reaction of ethylenediamine (EDA) with trimethylopropane triacrylate (TMPTA). Applied as a hard coat on top of a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film, this nanocomposite has a short UV-cure time and the cured coat has an enhanced thermal decompo-sition temperature (T d ), 89-90% transparency, increased hardness up to 3H, better adhesion up to 4B, and a flat surface with a root mean square roughness of 2-4 nm. The preparation as well as the characterization of the constituting species and the final hybrid are described in detail.