Elaboration of hybrid nanocomposites based on modified montmorillonite as stabilizer using pickering miniemulsion

The objective of this study was to develop hybrid nanoparticles (HNCs) from two monomers, methyl methacrylate (MMA) and butylacrylate (BA), using miniemulsion polymerization method in the presence of Algerian montmorillonite (MMT), and different types of surfactants, such as the cationic didodecyldimethyldilammoniumbromide (DDAB), undecafluoro (oxethylene) n-pentyldeca ether (FSO-100) and the mixed surfactant system (FSO-100/DDAB). Moreover, Algerian montmorillonite, have so far been little studied, especially regarding possibility to obtain exfoliated hybrid nanoparticles. In this study, several parameters of the polymerization reaction were optimized and allowed to conclude that: a) the modification of the raw MMT through the two stages reaction successfully gave an organophile MMT (MMT-HTA+), whose structure was verified by X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, b) the cationic surfactant DDAB was the best stabilizer of hybrid nanoparticles in miniemulsion of MMA-co BA, c) for Pickering miniemulsion polymerization, the modified MMT acted as a surfactant, and stabilized the particle-solvent interface in miniemulsion, thanks to the clay amphiphatie. The higher the percentage of the clay, the less stable were miniemulsions and the higher was the polydispersity of them, d) the most stable nanoparticles were obtained with 0.5% in weight of MMT-HTA+, which was characteristic for exfoliated nanocomposites. The addition of 2% of n-hexadecane (n-HD) resulted in 50% reduction in size, indicating the effectiveness of this compound in stabilizing particles in miniemulsion.

Elaboration of hybrid nanocomposites based on modified montmorillonite as stabilizer using pickering miniemulsion Keywords:

miniemulsions , Hybrid nanocomposites , Pickering miniemulsion , Surfactants , acrylate monomers