Preparation of poly(methyl methacrylate)/titanium oxide composite particles via in‐situ emulsion polymerization

Abstract

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/Titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) composite particles were prepared via in-situ emulsion polymerization of MMA in the presence of TiO 2 particles. Before polymerization, the TiO 2 particles was modified by the silane coupling agent, which is crucial to ensure that PMMA reacts with TiO 2 via covalent bond bindings. The structure of the obtained PMMA/TiO 2 composite particles was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The results indicate that there are covalent bond bindings between PMMA macromolecules and TiO 2 particles. Based on these facts, several factors affecting the resulting PMMA/ TiO 2 composite system, such as the type of coupling agents, the mass ratio of the MMA to the modified TiO 2 , the emulsifier concentration, and the initiator concentration, etc., were examined by the measurement of conversion of monomers, the gel content of polymers, the percentage of grafting, and the grafting efficiency, using gravity method or TGA method. As a result, the optimized recipe was achieved, and the percentage of grafting and the grafting efficiency could reach 216.86 and 96.64%, respectively. In addition, the obtained PMMA/TiO 2 composite particles were found to a stable colloidal dispersion in good solvent for PMMA.

Photoactive Hybrid Catalysts Based on Natural and Synthetic Polymers: A Comparative Overview

“…Another example of synthetic polymer hybrid materials, which have applications in water treatment processes, are polyethersulfone or polyvinylidene fluoride membranes with various types of metal oxides (e.g., titanium, zinc or chromium) displaying good antifouling performance, including photo-catalysis, self-cleaning, and filterability properties [ 55 , 56 ]. Our special attention gives merit to hybrid materials based on conjugated organic polymers (COPs) like polyaniline (PANI) [ 57 ] ( Table 1 , Entry 2), poly(pyrrole) (PPy) [ 58 ], polythiophene (PT) [ 59 ], polyacetylene (PA) [ 60 ], poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) [ 61 ], polythiopene (PT) [ 62 ], polyparaphenylene (PPP) [ 63 ], polyparaphenylenevenylene (PPV), poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) [ 63 ] or poly( O -phenylenediamine) (POPD)) [ 64 ]. The conjugated organic polymers are mostly p-type semiconductors, due to their electrical and optical properties.…”

Thermo-oxidative stability of poly(methyl methacrylate)/poly(methyl methacrylate)-grafted SiO2 nanocomposites

“…Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is an important thermoplastic material with excellent transparency. The preparation and thermal degradation of many PMMA/inorganic nanoparticles have been investigated extensively [5][6][7].The preparation of PMMA via a radical polymerization generally involves the formation of unsaturated end groups and head-head (H-H) linkages due to the disproportionation and coupling reaction. These abnormal structures are possibly responsible for the poor thermal stability of PMMA.…”

Synthesis of SiO2/PS composite particles via emulsion polymerization

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] These materials can show some special performances, such as optics, electronics, magnetics, and catalysis etc, which are extensively used in the areas of coating, electronics, catalysis, and diagnostics. 16,17 The composite particles with core-shell can be synthesized through several methods: dispersion polymerization, [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] emulsion polymerization, [28][29][30][31][32] miniemulsion polymerization, atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), 33 and reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT). 34 Dispersion polymerization has been used to synthesize the silica-polystyrene (PS) composite particles.…”