Preparation and Properties of Highly Monodisperse Spherical Poly(vinylsilsesquioxane) Nanoparticles

In aqueous solution, highly monodisperse spherical poly(vinylsilsesquioxane) (PVSQ) particles with various sizes have been prepared successfully in the presence of surfactant sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate(SDBS) using vinyl triethoxysilane (VTES) as precursor and ammonia hydroxide as catalyst by sol-gel method. The research results show that the amounts of catalyst(NH3 center dot H2O) and surfactant(SDBS) have great effects on size and size distribution of PVSQ. However, the amount of precursor(VTES) has unobvious effect on size and size distribution of PVSQ. The shape, size and size distribution, structure, surface property and thermal behavior of the resulting products were analyzed and characterized by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and thermal gravimetric analysis(TGA), respectively.