A new and convenient route to polyacrylate/silver nanocomposites by light-induced cross-linking polymerization

A new method for the preparation of silver nanoparticles/polymer nanocomposite materials by UV-radiation curing of multifunctional acrylate monomers has been developed. Silver nanoparticles possessing an average diameter of 6.6nm were first prepared by chemical reduction of silver nitrate with t-BuONa-activated sodium hydride in THE Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and size distribution analysis revealed that silver(0) nanoparticles remained well-dispersed in acrylic formulations composed of tetrahydrofurfuryl acrylate, polyurethane acrylate and polyethylene glycol 400 diacrylate. The curing process was followed quantitatively by infrared spectroscopy through the decrease of the IR bands characteristic of the functional groups upon UV exposure. The viscoelastic properties of the nanocomposite photopolymer were monitored by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Silver nanoparticles were found to have no detrimental effect on the photopolymerization kinetics and the incorporation of metal nanoparticles allowed to reduce the gloss of UV-cured coatings. An increase of the diameter of silver nanoparticles to 20 nm was observed during the curing process. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.