Preparation and characterization of silica sol/fluoroacrylate core-shell nanocomposite emulsion

The silica sol/fluoroacrylate core-shell nanocomposite emulsion was successfully synthesized via traditional emulsion polymerization through grafting of KH-570 onto silica particles. Comparing the performance of the polyacrylate copolymer, the fluorinated polyacrylate copolymer and the silica sol/fluoroacrylate core-shell nanocomposite emulsion, we can come to a conclusion that the silica sol/fluoroacrylate core-shell nanocomposite emulsion presents significantly excellent performance in all aspects. The products were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetry (TGA), Contact angle and UV-vis analyses techniques. The chemical structure of polyacrylate copolymer, fluorinated polyacrylate copolymer and silica sol/fluoroacrylate nanocomposite were detected by FTIR. The size and stability of emulsion latex particles were determined by PCS technique. TEM analysis confirmed that the resultant latex particle has the core-shell structure, obviously. The water absorption and contact angle data also showed that the silica sol/fluoroacrylate nanocomposite film has good hydrophobic performance. TGA analysis indicated the weight loss of the silica sol/fluoroacrylate nanocomposite film begins at around 350 degrees C which testifies its good thermal stability. The UV-vis spectroscopy analysis showed that the silica sol/fluoroacrylate nanocomposite film possess UV-vis shielding effect when the added volume amount of KH570 modified silica sol is up to 5 mL. Therefore, the excellent properties of hydrophobicity, thermodynamics and resistance to ultraviolet provide the silica sol/fluoroacrylate nanocomposite film with potential applications in variety fields. In addition, the formation mechanism of core-shell structure silica sol/fluoroacrylate nanocomposite latex particles was speculated.