Graft polymerization of acrylamide onto aminated silica nanoparticles by amine/ceric redox system: Effect of particle diameter and amine reducing agent density

Radical graft polymerization of acrylamide (AAm) from silica nanoparticles (SN) surface was studied. A redox system included cerium (IV) ammonium nitrate (CAN) and SNs carrying amino groups as reducing agent, is capable of initiating the radical polymerization of acrylamide (AAm) in acidic environment. To investigate effect of SNs surface area in this paper, two kinds of SNs with different diameters (7 and 12 nm diameter) were aminated before polymerization. Aminated SNs (ASN) were synthesized by covalently attaching of the 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) onto the surface. Effect of reducing agent number also was studied in other way and N-(2-aminopropyl)-3-aminoethyltrimethoxysilane (AEAPTMS) was used in an equivalent reaction. Polyacrylamide was grafted onto the silica based on the propagation of the polymer from the radicals formed by redox polymerization. FTIR and TGA were used for characterization

Keywords:

Redox polymerization , ceric (IV) ammonium nitrate , poly acrylamide , silica nanoparticle , graft polymerization