Preparation of styrene polymer/ZnO nanocomposite latex via miniemulsion polymerization and its antibacterial property

• DOI: 10.1007/s00396-009-2057-5
• Publication Date: 2009-06-09T06:21:21Z
• Authors: Erjun Tang; Shaoying Dong
• Keywords: Miniemulsion

Styrene polymer/ZnO nanocomposite latex was fabricated using miniemulsion polymerization in the presence of coupling agent 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) and hexadecane as hydrophobe. The size distribution and morphology of the composite latex particles were characterized by dynamic light scattering and transmission electron micrograph. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer results demonstrate that ZnO nanoparticles were encapsulated into polymer phases. The coupling treatment of ZnO with APTES can improve the dynamic contact angles of ZnO nanoparticle with water to enhance its hydrophobicity. When 0.6% APTES to ZnO (wt/wt) is used to modify ZnO, the encapsulation efficiency of ZnO reaches to 95%. It shows that the high encapsulation efficiency improves dispersion of ZnO nanoparticles in polymer film by scanning electron microscope. The stable structural hybrid latex can adequately exert unique function of nanoparticles in coatings. It indicates that the coatings added the composite latex exhibits perfect antibacterial activity, which has a tremendous potentiality in the field of coating materials.