In-situ coating of silica nanoparticles with acrylate-based polymers

Nanoscale oxide/polymer composites consisting of a silica core coated with either methylmethacrylate (MMA) or ethyl-2-cyanoacrylate (ECA) are produced in-situ by chemical vapor synthesis (CVS). In this process, a hot-wall reactor is used for the preparation of the oxide core, followed by a plasma reactor to form the polymer coating. Deposition of the coating material was confirmed using nitrogen adsorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and thermal analysis (TGA). The influence of the monomer on the dispersability in polar and non-polar media was investigated by photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS).