Nitroxide-Mediated Radical Polymerization of Styrene Initiated from the Surface of Titanium Oxide Nanoparticles

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Department of Chemistry, Payame Noor University, P. O. Box: 19395-3697, Tehran-Iran

10.7508/jns.2016.01.006

Abstract

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, with an average size of about 45 nm, were encapsulated by polystyrene using in situ nitroxide mediated radical polymerization   in the presence of 3-aminopropyl triethoxy silane (APTES) as a coupling agent and 2, 2, 6, 6-tetramethylpiperidinyl-1-oxy  as a initiator. First, the initiator for NMRP was covalently bonded onto the surface of Titanium dioxide nanoparticles through our novel method. For this purpose, the surface of TiO2 nanoparticle was treated with 3-aminopropyl triethoxy silane, a silane coupling agent, and then these functionalized nanoparticles was reacted with ±-chloro phenyl acetyl chloride. The chlorine groups were converted to nitroxide mediated groups by coupling with 1-hydroxy-2, 2, 6, 6-tetramethyl piperidine. These modified TiO2 nanoparticles were then dispersed in styrene (St) monomers to carry out the in situ free radical polymerization.

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