Synthesis of well-defined, polymer-grafted silica particles by aqueous ATRP

Surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of various hydrophilic methacrylate monomers on submicrometer-sized silica particles in aqueous media at 20 degreesC leads to polymer-grafted silica particles whose colloid stability depends on the nature of the grafted polymer. These new organic-inorganic hybrid particles have been extensively characterized by thermogravimetry, elemental microanalyses, FT-IR spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. They are expected to be interesting model colloids for evaluating theories of steric stabilization.