Synthesis and Characterization of Polystyrene, Poly(butyl acrylate)-Layered Silicates Nanocomposites by Polymerization in Anionic Microemulsions

Styrene (St) and butyl acrylate (BuA) microemulsion polymerizations were investigated in presence of layered silicates (LS) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as surfactant. Two main LS categories were used: one in the sodium form as Na montmorillonite (MMT) and the other in organomodified form LS (OLS) with quaternary ammonium salts having different hydrophobic modifiers. The swelling capacity of OLS in presence of monomers with different polarity is more pronounced for partners with closer hydrophobicity to St. The latexes obtained by microemulsion polymerization showed larger particles size for BuA polymer and BuA copolymer with sulfonated styrene than for St. Analyzing the dried hybrid polymers by XRD, we found structures which corresponds to exfoliated LS. The thermal behavior of hybrids, examined by TGA, showed higher rates of decomposing temperatures in the case of OLS, in comparison with the NaMMT hybrids. The obtained hybrids were evaluated by DLS, FTIR, DSC, and SEM.