In Situ Synthesis of Poly(methyl methacrylate)/SiO2 Hybrid Nanocomposites via “Grafting Onto” Strategy Based on UV Irradiation in the Presence of Iron Aqueous Solution

Poly(methyl methacrylate)/SiO2 (PMMA/SiO2) hybrid composites were prepared via “grafting onto” strategy based on UV irradiation in the presence of iron aqueous solution. Two steps were used to graft polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) onto the surface of nanosilica, anchoring 3-(methacryloxy) propyl trimethoxysilane (MPTS) onto the surface of nanosilica to modify it with double bonds, and then grafting PMMA onto the surface of nanosilica with FeCl3 as photoinitiator. The products were characterized by FT-IR, TGA, TEM, DLS, and XPS. The results showed that it is easy to graft PMMA onto the surface of nanosilica under UV irradiation, and the hybrid particles are monodisperse and have core-shell structure with nanosilica as the core and PMMA layers as the shell. Furthermore, the products initiated by FeCl3 have higher monomer conversion, percent grafting, and better monodispersion compared with the products initiated by traditional photoinitiator such as 2-hydroxy-4-(2-hydroxyethoxy)-2-methyl-propiophenone (Irgacure 2959).