Synthesis and properties of silica/polystyrene/polyaniline conductive composite particles

In this study, silica/polystyrene/polyaniline (SiO2/PS/PANI) conductive composite particles were synthesized by four sequential reactions. The nanosized SiO2 particles were synthesized from tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) by a sol-gel process with water as the solvent medium, followed by a surface modification with triethoxyvinyl-silane; then the surface modified SiO2 particles were used as seeds to synthesize SiO2/PS composite particles with soapless seeded emulsion polymerization. Finally, the SiO2/PS particles were used as seeds to synthesize the SiO2/PS/PANI conductive composite particles. The sol-gel process of SiO2, the effect of surface modification, and several other factors that influenced polymerization of styrene in the soapless seeded emulsion polymerization will be discussed. Either potassium persulfate (KPS) or 2,2'-azobis(isobutyramidine) dihydrochloride (AIBA) was used as the initiator to synthesize the uniform SiO2/PS particles successfully, and the cross-section morphology of the SiO2/PS particles was found to be of a core-shell structure, with SiO2 as the core, and PS as the shell. The SiO2/PS particles were well dispersed in many organic solvents. In the following step to synthesize SiO2/PS/PANI conductive composite particles, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) played an important role, specifically, to absorb aniline onto the surfaces of the SiO2/PS particles to carry out the polymerization of aniline over the entire surface of the particles. The conductivity of the SiO2/PS/PANI composite particles approached that of semiconductive materials. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.