Synthesis of polyvinylpyrrolidone/silver nanoparticles hybrid latex in non-aqueous miniemulsion at high temperature

Since emulsions tend to become unstable with increasing temperature, reactions in emulsions are usually not performed at high temperatures. We show that non-aqueous inverse miniemulsions are relatively stable at temperatures higher than 150 degrees C. As an example of this remarkable stability, composite particles consisting of Ag nanoparticles and a polymer were synthesized via the polyol process in the monomer droplets to reduce silver ions to silver followed by the polymerization of the monomer. Silver nanoparticles were hence embedded in polyvinylpyrrolidone matrix particles. We showed here that non-aqueous miniemulsion nanodroplets are suitable loci for reactions performed at high temperature. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.