Sodium silicate route to coat polymer particles with silica

This paper presents a low-cost method to coat polymer particles with silica nanoparticles from inexpensive sodium silicate solution, which is a less-common precursor compared with tetraethyl orthosilicate for coating of polymer particles. The method is based on deposition of active silicic acid in the presence of polymer particles, prepared by emulsion polymerization of styrene involving poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone), under conditions that a dilute silica sol can be formed from this active silicic acid. The whole process was conducted in aqueous media. The effects of different reaction parameters, such as reaction temperature, amount of active silicic acid and solution pH, on the morphology and size of composite particles were investigated.