title: A facile route towards the synthesis of polystyrene/zinc oxide nanocomposites.
abstract: ZnO nanoparticles were covalently wrapped by polystyrene (PS) through surface thiol-lactam initiated radical polymerization using the grafting from approach. The surface of ZnO nanoparticles was initially modified by 3-mercapto propyltrimethoxysilane to afford thiol functionalized ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO-SH). The controlled radical polymerization of styrene (St) was subsequently accomplished by using an initiating system of ZnO-SH and butyrolactam. FT-IR, XPS, XRD, TGA, DSC, TEM and DLS were employed to investigate the chemical structure, morphology, thermal properties, the size and size distribution of nanocomposites. The dispersibility of ZnO nanoparticles was observed to be significantly improved upon functionalization by PS brushes. The controlled nature of the surface initiated thiol-lactam aided polymerization of St from the ZnO nanoparticles surface was confirmed by GPC analysis.
authors: Department of Imaging System Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan, 608-737, Korea.
authors: Long Giang
authors: LG
authors: Bach
authors: M Rafiqul
authors: MR
authors: Islam
authors: Yong Hun
authors: YH
authors: Kim
authors: Sung Deok
authors: SD
authors: Seo
authors: Chan
authors: C
authors: Park
authors: Hyun Gyu
authors: HG
authors: Kim
authors: Kwon Taek
authors: KT
authors: Lim
mesh_terms: D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size; D011137:Polystyrenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties; D015034:Zinc Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D011137:Polystyrenes; D015034:Zinc Oxide