Fabrication and characterization of chemically bonded polysilsesquioxane-polyacrylate hybrid latex particles

Abstract

This paper attempted to prepare hybrid particles in which the inorganic and organic components were chemically bonded in simplification. The polymethacryloxypropylsilsesquioxanes-polyacrylate (PMPS-PA) latex particles were prepared through seeded emulsion polymerization using polymethacryloxypropylsilsesquioxanes (PMPS) as seed. As a reference, silica-polyacrylate (S-PA) latex particles were obtained with similar method. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the chemical composition and morphology of the resultant hybrid particles. The results showed that PMPS-PA particles were uniformly spherical with core-shell morphology and possessed narrow size distribution, whereas S-PA hybrid particles were not uniform as PMPS-PA particles and had bimodal size distribution. The surface properties, optical properties and thermal stability of the corresponding films were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, UV–Vis spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. Comparatively, PMPS-PA film exhibited smoother surface, larger optical transmittance and better thermal stability than S-PA film. These could be attributed to PMPS that were chemically bonded with PA phases, whereas weak interactions between silica and PA phases in S-PA, where silica surface modification was usually required to increase the surface interactions. Thus, PMPS particles containing reactive carbon-carbon double bond could be prospective and be directly used as seeds in the following emulsion polymerization to prepare chemically bonded hybrid particles.