High-Solids-Content Hybrid Acrylic/CeO2 Latexes with Encapsulated Morphology Assessed by 3D-TEM

Hybrid acrylic/CeO2 latexes with solids content as high as 50 wt% and CeO2 content up to 1 wt% are synthesized by a seeded semibatch emulsion polymerization process. TEM images show that CeO2 nanoparticles are randomly located within the polymer particles. The 2D trasmission electron microscopy (TEM) images are not conclusive to elucidate if CeO2 is encapsulated in the hybrid polymer particles. A TEM tomographic analysis is presented here to assess their morphology. The study shows that the latexes synthesized present an encapsulated morphology for CeO2 nanoparticles regardless of whether these are located at the center or borders of the polymer particles.