Raspberry-like morphology of polyvinyl chloride/zinc oxide nanoparticles induced by surface interaction and formation of nanoporous foam

Abstract

This work presents a facile approach to synthesize P(VC-co-AAEM) (vinyl chloride copolymerized acetoacetoxyethyl methacrylate)/zinc oxide (ZnO) nanocomposite particles with raspberry-like shape by a nano-coating technique. It is proved that the interactions between the b-diketone groups embedded in AAEM and ZnO precursors are crucial to forming the raspberry-like morphology, as such, the content of AAEM has a significant effect on the nucleation and growth of ZnO nanocrystals on the P(VC-co-AAEM) beads. SEM analysis demonstrated that ZnO nanocrystals were deposited on the surface of template nanoparticles as small clusters with different sizes and quantity, depending on the reaction parameters. X-ray diffraction of the P(VC-co-AAEM)/ZnO nanocomposite particles revealed that the addition of functionalized PVC beads lowered the formation of ZnO nanocrystals due to the constraining effect of the ZnO-AAEM interaction on the mobility of ZnO precursors. Additionally, such PVC/ZnO composite particles were found to have excellent foamability of nanometer-sized pores, which could have various potential applications in sound insulation and thermal insulation. Scheme 1 Schematic representation of the steps involved in the fabrication of P(VC-co-AAEM)/ZnO composite particles and foaming: (a) preparing functionalized P(VC-co-AAEM) particles, (b) fabrication of P(VC-co-AAEM)/ZnO nanocomposite particles, (c) absorbing ADC, (d) foaming in mould. 36846 | RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 36845-36857 This journal is

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