The formation of hydrophobic inorganic nanoparticles in the presence of amphiphilic copolymers

The presented paper describes a novel procedure for the preparation of inorganic nanoparticles and their surface functionalization in situ dedicated to an application in technical polymers. Using an inverse emulsion technique and amphiphilic block or statistical copolymers as stabilizers, a broad variety of nanoparticles such as ZnO, CdS, MgCO3, Ni, or Cu can be prepared. The amphiphilic polymers serve not only as surface active compounds in the emulsion but also to hydrophobize the inorganic particles as they remain adsorbed on the surface after the precipitation. As a consequence of the high degree of surface coverage by polymer chains, organic solvents are able to redisperse these particles in the aggregate free manner. The utilization of the block copolymers instead of statistical copolymers resulted in the formation of the particles, which were larger in size and possessed a much broader size distribution. The chemical nature of the adsorbed polymer layer on the particle surface is crucial to the preparation of polymer nanocomposites. The primary goal of this contribution is to demonstrate the universality of such a one-pot synthetic procedure, which was found to be relevant for industrial use.