Surface modification of silica nanoparticles by UV-induced graft polymerization of methyl methacrylate

In this study we modified the surface of silica nanoparticles with methyl methacrylate by UV-induced graft polymerization. It is a surface-initiated polymerization reaction induced by ultraviolet irradiation. The resulting organic-inorganic nanocomposites were near-monodisperse and fabricated without homopolymerization of the monomer. Substantial increase in mean particle size was observed by SEM image analysis after UV-induced grafting of methyl methacrylate onto pure silica particles. FT-Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies of these materials revealed the successful grafting of methyl methacrylate onto the silica surface. The formation of a covalent bond between the grafted PMMA chains and silica surface was indicated by FT-Raman spectra. Thermogravimetric analysis of the PMMA-grafted silica particles indicated the polymer contents in good agreement with SEM photographs.     

Polymerization of vinyl monomers in the presence of silica having surface functional groups

The surface of silica was modified by mercaptopropyl, chloropropyl, aminopropyl, and methacryloxypropyl groups by the treatment of silica with the corresponding silane coupling agents, and the effects of functional groups on the surface on the polymerization of vinyl monomers initiated by benzoyl peroxide or 2,2-azobisisobutyronitrile were investigated. Although the rate of the polymerization of vinyl monomers in the presence of silica was almost equal to that in the absence of silica, a part of polymer formed was grafted onto silica surface. The polymerization was considerably retarded in the presence of these functionalized silicas and the corresponding polymers were effectively grafted onto the surface. The molecular weight of ungrafted polymer formed in the presence of the functionalized silica was lower than that formed in the presence of unmodified silica. This indicates that the chain transfer reaction of growing polymer radical to functionalized silica surface forms radicals on the surface, which then couples with growing polymer radical and/or reinitiates the polymerization to give rise to the grafting of polymers onto the surface. In the case of silica having methacryloxypropyl groups, the grafting based on the copolymerization of vinyl monomer with the surface methacryloxypropyl groups was considered to successfully proceed.     

Effect of grafting on nanoparticle segregation in polymer/nanoparticle blends near a substrate

Nanoparticles in polymer films have shown the tendency to migrate to the substrate due to an entropic-based attractive depletion interaction between the particles and the substrate. It is also known that polymer-grafted nanoparticles show better dispersion in a polymer matrix. Here, molecular dynamics simulations are employed to study the effect of grafting on the nanoparticle segregation to the substrate. The nanoparticles were modeled as spheres and the polymers as bead-spring chains. The polymers of the grafts and the matrix are identical in nature. For a purely repulsive system, the nanoparticle density near the surface was found to decrease as the length of grafted chains and the number of grafts increased and in the bulk, the nanoparticles are well-dispersed. Whereas, in case of attractive systems with interparticle interactions on the order of thermal energy, the nanoparticles segregated to the substrate even more strongly, essentially forming clusters on the wall and in the bulk. However, due to the presence of grafted chains on the nanoparticles, the clusters formed in the bulk are structurally anisotropic. The effect of grafts on nanoparticle segregation to the surface was found to be qualitatively similar to the purely repulsive case.     

Impact of modified alumina oxides on the fire properties of PMMA and PS nanocomposites

Grafting of ethylene glycol methacrylate phosphate (EGMP) monomer polymerized from alumina nanoparticles has been performed in order to confer a better thermal stability and fire retardancy to PMMA and PS nanocomposites. Grafting and polymerization processes have been investigated using FTIR, TGA, and elemental analyses. Thermal stability and decomposition routes of monomer and polymer grafted alumina have been studied using thermogravimetric analysis and compared with the thermal behavior of the same alumina modified with octylsilane. The thermal stability of EGMP supported by the nanoparticles is higher than that of free EGMP. The incorporation of 5 wt% of both surface treated alumina in PMMA and PS leads to an improvement of thermal stability in comparison with unfilled polymers as well as nanocomposites containing unmodified alumina. Furthermore, the grafting of organic compounds on alumina also allows the peak of heat release rate measured using a cone calorimeter to be significantly reduced for PMMA nanocomposites. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

紫外光引发LDPE膜接枝含氟丙烯酸酯的研究

通过紫外光引发表面接枝聚合反应的方法 ,把含氟丙烯酸酯单体R 5 6 1 0引到LDPE薄膜上 .对经丁酮抽提后的接枝膜进行FTIR、ESCA、SEM和DSC等表征 ,证实含氟聚合物以化学键的方式接枝在LDPE基体膜上 .在一定范围内 ,增加紫外光强、引发剂和单体浓度以及反应温度等均有利于提高接枝率 .经计算R 5 6 1 0的紫外光引发接枝聚合反应总活化能为 5 4 2kJ mol.接枝膜的接触角随着接枝率的提高逐步增大 ,直至趋于恒定 .作者提出接枝膜存在一个在接触角测定时影响基体膜与探测水滴相互作用过程的边界层 .当接枝率较低、接枝层厚度小于边界层临界厚度时 ,基体LDPE影响接触角的大小 ,但随着接枝率提高 ,接枝层逐渐变厚 ,氟聚合物层对接触角的贡献逐渐占优势 ,导致接触角随之增大 .当接枝率超过一定值以后 ,接枝层厚度超过边界层临界厚度 ,接枝层对接枝膜的接触角起全部贡献 ,接触角测定值随之稳定     

Grafting of amino functional monomer onto initiator-modified polystyrene particles

Polystyrene nanoparticles with grafted chains of an amino functionalized polymer were prepared by a two-step polymerization process. In the first step, the polystyrene seed particles were synthesized by the conventional batch emulsion polymerization using terpolymer HAS (hydroperoxide monomer, acrylic acid, and styrene) as a surface-active initiator. The surface of the obtained particles contains carboxyl groups, which are responsible for the latex stability, and residual undecomposed hydroperoxide groups. Therefore, in the second step, an amino functional monomer was grafted onto the hydroperoxide modified polystyrene particles by a "grafting from" approach. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, NMR, and scanning electron microscopy were used to examine the surface of the amino functionalized particles. The amount of incorporated amino groups onto the particles was determined by fluorescenometric titration. In general, the number of amino groups on the particle surface increased with the increase of the functional monomer content in the reaction mixture. The incorporation of the functional monomer was also confirmed by electrophoretic measurements. Final particles possess amphoteric character due to the presence of amino and carboxyl groups on the surface. Adsorption of human immunoglobulins G onto the amino functionalized particles was studied as a function of pH and ionic strength. The covalent binding of human IgG was performed using the glutaraldehyde preactivation method. The immunoreactivity of the latex-IgG complex was examined by the latex agglutination test.     

Grafting acrylic polymers from flat nickel and copper surfaces by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization

Acrylic polymers, including poly(methyl methacrylate), poly(2,2,2-trifluoroethyl methacrylate), poly( N,N'-dimethyaminoethyl methacrylate), and poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) were grafted from flat nickel and copper surfaces through surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). For the nickel system, there was a linear relationship between polymer layer thickness and monomer conversion or molecular weight of "free" polymers. The thickness of the polymer brush films was greater than 80 nm after 6 h of reaction time. The grafting density was estimated to be 0.40 chains/nm2. The "living" chain ends of grafted polymers were still active and initiated the growth of a second block of polymer. Block copolymer brushes with different block sequences were successfully prepared. The experimental surface chemical compositions as measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy agreed very well with their theoretical values. Water contact angle measurements further confirmed the successful grafting of polymers from nickel and copper surfaces. The surface morphologies of all samples were studied by atomic force microscopy. This study provided a novel approach to prepare stable functional polymer coatings on reactive metal surfaces.     

Accelerated brush growth on nanoparticle surfaces by reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer polymerization

It is now well established that controlling the grafted chain lengths and densities on nanoparticle surfaces determines the effective interactions between particles, and their assembly. Here, we present unusual kinetic results for achieving grafted chain lengths longer than the free chains using reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization and discuss the limitations to obtaining polymer grafting density higher than ～0.06 chains/nm². We observe that surface initiated polymerization grows faster than the free chains in solution with high RAFT agent coverage (1.95 agents/nm²) on nanoparticles. The time‐dependence of graft density suggests that activation of the anchored chain transfer agent (CTA) is limited by the diffusion of macro‐radicals within growing grafts. Thus, radical transfer and exchange reactions become inefficient between grafts and free polymer, and convert the surface‐initiated RAFT mechanism to a free radical polymerization. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014 , 52, 1700–1705     

Effect of bidispersity in grafted chain length on grafted chain conformations and potential of mean force between polymer grafted nanoparticles in a homopolymer matrix

In efforts to produce polymeric materials with tailored physical properties, significant interest has grown around the ability to control the spatial organization of nanoparticles in polymer nanocomposites. One way to achieve controlled particle arrangement is by grafting the nanoparticle surface with polymers that are compatible with the matrix, thus manipulating the interfacial interactions between the nanoparticles and the polymer matrix. Previous work has shown that the molecular weight of the grafted polymer, both at high grafting density and low grafting density, plays a key role in dictating the effective inter-particle interactions in a polymer matrix. At high grafting density nanoparticles disperse (aggregate) if the graft molecular weight is higher (lower) than the matrix molecular weight. At low grafting density the longer grafts can better shield the nanoparticle surface from direct particle-particle contacts than the shorter grafts and lead to the dispersion of the grafted particles in the matrix. Despite the importance of graft molecular weight, and evidence of non-trivial effects of polydispersity of chains grafted on flat surfaces, most theoretical work on polymer grafted nanoparticles has only focused on monodisperse grafted chains. In this paper, we focus on how bidispersity in grafted chain lengths affects the grafted chain conformations and inter-particle interactions in an implicit solvent and in a dense homopolymer polymer matrix. We first present the effects of bidispersity on grafted chain conformations in a single polymer grafted particle using purely Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. This is followed by calculations of the potential of mean force (PMF) between two grafted particles in a polymer matrix using a self-consistent Polymer Reference Interaction Site Model theory-Monte Carlo simulation approach. Monte Carlo simulations of a single polymer grafted particle in an implicit solvent show that in the bidisperse polymer grafted particles with an equal number of short and long grafts at low to medium grafting density, the short grafts are in a more coiled up conformation (lower radius of gyration) than their monodisperse counterparts to provide a larger free volume to the longer grafts so they can gain conformational entropy. The longer grafts do not show much difference in conformation from their monodisperse counterparts at low grafting density, but at medium grafting density the longer grafts exhibit less stretched conformations (lower radius of gyration) as compared to their monodisperse counterparts. In the presence of an explicit homopolymer matrix, the longer grafts are more compressed by the matrix homopolymer chains than the short grafts. We observe that the potential of mean force between bidisperse grafted particles has features of the PMF of monodisperse grafted particles with short grafts and monodisperse grafted particles with long grafts. The value of the PMF at contact is governed by the short grafts and values at large inter-particle distances are governed by the longer grafts. Further comparison of the PMF for bidisperse and monodisperse polymer grafted particles in a homopolymer matrix at varying parameters shows that the effects of matrix chain length, matrix packing fraction, grafting density, and particle curvature on the PMF between bidisperse polymer grafted particles are similar to those seen between monodisperse polymer grafted particles.     

二步法聚丙烯/丙烯酸表面接枝聚合研究

研究了二步法聚丙烯膜表面的丙烯酸接枝反应 .实验发现 ,以醋酐为溶剂的反应体系所得接枝率明显好于以水为溶剂的体系 ;接枝率随光敏剂浓度、单体浓度增大而增加 ;提高反应温度 ,可使接枝率明显增大 ;接枝后的聚丙烯膜表面亲水性可明显改善 .并用红外光谱证实了丙烯酸在聚丙烯膜表面的接枝 .     

Grafting of polymers onto and/or from silica surface during the polymerization of vinyl monomers in the presence of γ‐ray‐irradiated silica

The effects of radicals on silica surface, which were formed by γ‐ray irradiation, on the polymerization of vinyl monomers were investigated. It was found that the polymerization of styrene was remarkably retarded in the presence of γ‐ray‐irradiated silica above 60 °C, at which thermal polymerization of styrene is readily initiated. During the polymerization, a part of polystyrene formed was grafted onto the silica surface but percentage of grafting was very small. On the other hand, no retardation of the polymerization of styrene was observed in the presence of γ‐ray‐irradiated silica below 50 °C; the polymerization tends to accelerate and polystyrene was grafted onto the silica surface. Poly(vinyl acetate) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (MMA) were also grafted onto the surface during the polymerization in the presence of γ‐ray‐irradiated silica. The grafting of polymers onto the silica surface was confirmed by thermal decomposition GC‐MS. It was considered that at lower temperature, the grafting based on the propagation of polystyrene from surface radical (“grafting from” mechanism) preferentially proceeded. On the contrary, at higher temperature, the coupling reaction of propagating polymer radicals with surface radicals (“grafting onto” mechanism) proceeded to give relatively higher molecular weight polymer‐grafted silica. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 2972–2979, 2006     

Evidence and mechanisms of filling polymerization by plasma-induced graft polymerization

Using a plasma-induced graft polymerization technique, which is well known as a surface modification method, the grafted polymer was formed in pores of the porous material. This study examined the filling mechanism. Five thin porous films were sandwiched together, and employed as the substrate. The substrate was treated by plasma, and the change in surface tension and radical formation was measured for each sheet after the sheet was separated. The only surface on which surface-tension change was detected, was that of the sheet directly exposed to the plasma. Although plasma treatment made polymer radicals primarily on the outer surface of the sheet, the treatment also formed a few radicals inside the sheets. The radicals inside the sheets reacted with methylacrylate and grafted polymer formed in the pores. The location of grafted polymer depended on the balance between monomer diffusivity and reactivity. The grafting rate depended on which monomer solvent was used for the polymerization. Thus, the grafted membrane morphology could be controlled by varying the grating solvent composition. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Effective grafting of polymers onto ultrafine silica surface: Photopolymerization of vinyl monomers initiated by the system consisting of trichloroacetyl groups on the surface and Mn2(CO)10

The effective grafting of vinyl polymers onto an ultrafine silica surface was successfully achieved by the photopolymerization of vinyl monomers initiated by the system consisting of trichloroacetyl groups on the surface with Mn₂(CO)₁₀ under UV irradiation at 25 °C. The introduction of trichloroacetyl groups onto the surface of silica was achieved by the reaction of trichloroacetyl isocyanate with surface amino groups, which were introduced by the treatment of silica with 3‐aminopropyltriethoxysilane. During the polymerization, the corresponding polymers were effectively grafted onto the surface, based on the propagation of polymer from surface radicals formed by the interaction of trichloroacetyl groups and Mn₂(CO)₁₀. The percentage of poly(methyl methacrylate) grafting onto the silica reached 714.6% after 90 min. The grafting efficiency (proportion of grafted polymer to total polymer formed) in the polymerization of methyl methacrylate was very high, about 80%, indicating the depression of formation of ungrafted polymer. Polymer‐grafted silica gave a stable colloidal dispersion in good solvents for grafted polymer. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 39: 2157–2163, 2001     

Photografting of polymers onto nanosized silica surface initiated by eosin moieties immobilized onto the surface

The photograft polymerization of various vinyl monomers onto nanosized silica surfaces was investigated. It was initiated by eosin moieties introduced onto the silica surface. The preparation of the silica with eosin moieties was achieved by the reaction of eosin with benzyl chloride groups on the silica surface.These were introduced by the reaction of surface silanol groups with 4‐(chloromethyl)phenyltrimethoxysilane in the presence of t‐butyl ammonium bromide as a phase‐transfer catalyst. The photopolymerization of various vinyl monomers, such as styrene, acrylamide, acrylic acid, and acrylonitrile was successfully initiated by eosin moieties on the silica surface in the presence of ascorbic acid as a reducing agent and by oxygen. The corresponding polymers were grafted from the silica surface. The grafting efficiency (percentage of grafted polymer to total polymer formed) in the photoinitiation system was much larger than that in the radical polymerization initiated by surface radicals; these radicals were formed by the thermal decomposition of azo groups introduced onto the silica surface. It was found that the polymer‐grafted silica gave stable dispersions in good solvents of grafted polymer and the wettability of the surfaces can be easily controlled by grafting of polymers. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 600–606, 2005     

Mechano-chemical radical formation and polymerization initiation during wet grinding of alumina

The formation of free radicals during wet grinding of alumina in a stirred media mill was studied by using the test radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydracyl (DPPH). The kinetics of mechano-chemical radical formation follows a zeroth-order rate law. Particle breakage as well as mechanical activation of the surface of the alumina particles contributes to the radical formation. The rate constants of the radical formation due to mechanical activation of the particle surface k(A) and due to particle breakage k(B) depend on the milling process parameters. The radical formation during wet grinding of alumina was exploited to initiate mechano-chemical polymerization reactions of acrylic acid and acryl amide, respectively. In this way nanoparticles functionalized with polyacrylic acid and polyacryl amide, respectively, are obtained. The influence of the milling process parameters on the kinetics of mechano-chemical radical formation and on the grafted amount of polymer is discussed on the basis of stress energy and number of stress events in the mill. A correlation between the grafted amount of polyacryl amide on the alumina particles and the total radical formation rate was found showing that the concentration of mechano-chemically formed free radicals governs the efficacy of a chemical reaction at activated particle surfaces.     

Anionic graft polymerization of methacrylonitrile on potassium starch alkoxide

The anionic graft polymerization of methacrylonitrile on potassium starch alkoxide in dimethyl sulfoxide was studied. Factors affecting the graft polymerization such as monomer and alkoxide concentrations as well as temperature were investigated. The yield of the graft polymers was found to increase with alkoxide concentration, and it was possible to incorporate all the starch into graft polymer. On increasing the monomer concentration the graft polymer yield increased to a flat maximum. At the higher monomer concentrations, the efficiency of monomer in giving graft polymer decreased due to increased homopolymer formation. The composition of the graft polymers varied with increasing monomer concentration, graft polymers having about 40–65% of grafted starch were obtained. With increasing temperature (10 to 60°C), the yield of graft polymer decreased, there was more homopolymerization, but the amount of starch incorporated in the graft remained constant. The structure of the graft polymers was deduced from hydrolysis of the starch backbone of the graft polymers by dilute mineral acid and the determination of the molecular weights of the grafted side chains, and from oxidation by periodic acid, which showed the extent of grafting at the secondary hydroxyl groups. These results have shown that by anionic graft polymerization it is possible to obtain graft polymers having more densely packed grafted side chains of relatively low molecular weights than those obtained previously by free-radical graft polymerization.     

Simulation of the latex particle morphology

A model is presented for the simulation of the structuration of polymer particles under conditions in which the new polymer chains are compatible with the polymer previously formed. The model involves the calculation of the monomer concentration gradients within the particles due to discrepancies in thermodynamic interactions between the monomer and the different polymers present in each part of the polymer particle. In addition, the distribution of free radicals in the latex particle is taken into account. This distribution results from the anchoring of the hydrophilic end-group of the growing polymer chain on the surface of the particle. The model was applied to the simulation of the polymerization of vinyl acetate on a butyl acrylate–vinyl acetate copolymer seed. It was found that the development of the particle morphology was mainly due to the profile of concentration of radicals in the particle. On the other hand, the effect of the monomer–polymer thermodynamic interactions on the particle morphology was found to be negligible. However, it has to be pointed out that this is because, for the system studied, the interaction parameters of vinyl acetate with polyvinyl acetate and polybutyl acrylate are nearly identical.     

Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-grafted dual stimuli-responsive filter paper for protein separation

Thermal and salt dual stimuli-responsive filter-paper-based membranes were prepared by UV-induced grafting of NIPAM-based polymers on paper surface. The grafting ratio could be controlled by monomer concentration during grafting polymerization. The results from pressure drop measurement of the mobile phase flowed cross the membrane demonstrate that an appropriate grafting ratio would be 8%-10%. Protein adsorption on the membrane through hydrophobic interaction could be promoted by increasing temperature and lyotropic salt concentration. The effect of grafted polymer structure on protein binding performance was studied. Filter paper grafted with NIPAM-based branched copolymer consisting of hydrophobic monomer moieties shows ten times higher protein binding capacity than that of the original filter paper. The separation of plasma proteins using the dual stimuli-responsive membrane was examined to demonstrate feasible application for hydrophobic interaction chromatographic separation of proteins.     

铝纳米粒子表面引发聚合制备核壳纳米结构

利用硅烷偶联剂引发法制备核壳结构金属铝纳米粒子(Al NPs)@聚合物, 并研究了聚合反应时间和单体浓度对核壳结构尺寸的影响. 首先合成了硅烷偶联引发剂{2-溴-2-甲基-[3-(三甲氧基硅基)丙基]丙酰胺}, 并通过在甲苯中回流的方法, 将其锚定在金属铝纳米粒子表面. 然后, 在粒子表面引发甲基丙烯酸甲酯的原子转移自由基聚合, 形成聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯(PMMA)壳层. 通过核磁共振波谱仪(NMR)和傅里叶变换红外光谱仪 (FTIR)证明了引发剂和PMMA的成功接枝. 透射电子显微镜(TEM)图像表明, PMMA改性后的金属铝纳米粒子的尺寸和形貌基本不变, 且被厚度约为15 nm聚合物壳层完整均匀地包覆. 此外, 利用动态光散射(DLS)进一步揭示了聚合时间和单体浓度对核壳结构水合直径(D_h)的影响, 发现延长聚合时间或增加单体浓度均可显著提高核壳结构尺寸.     

Control of the Colloidal Stability of Polymer-Grafted-Silica Nanoparticles Obtained by Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization

Polymer chains are grafted from silica nanobeads. The method consists in grafting first the initiator molecules on the silica surface. Then, the polymerization of styrene or n-butyl methacrylate using Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization, is conducted. The nanoparticles are kept in solution during the whole process to avoid irreversible aggregation. The state of dispersion of the grafted silica nanoparticles is followed by Small Angle Neutron Scattering, as well as the quantity and the spatial organisation of the polymer. This is done during the functionalisation and the polymerization, but also after purification where free polymer chains are eliminated. This permits to reach a quantitative level of SANS analysis from these purified particles, which is compared to chemical data given by Size Exclusion Chromatography and Thermogravimetric analysis.