Preparation of Polystyrene/Clay Nanocomposites by Free-Radical Polymerization in Dispersion

Fully exfoliated PS/clay nanocomposites were prepared via FRP in dispersion. Na‐MMT clay was pre‐modified using MPTMS before being used in a dispersion polymerization process. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of the clay concentrations on the monomer conversion, the polymer molecular weight, and the morphology and thermal stability of the nanocomposites prepared via dispersion polymerization. DLS and SEM revealed that the particle size decreased and became more uniformly distributed with increasing clay loading. XRD and TEM revealed that nanocomposites at low clay loading yielded exfoliated structures, while intercalated structures were obtained at higher clay loading. Polystyrene/clay nanocomposites were synthesized by FRP in dispersion polymerization using different clay loadings. The particle size of the nanocomposites was strongly dependent on the percentage of clay used. DLS measurements showed that the neat polystyrene particles had an apparent average particle diameter of about 1.3–1.4µm, whereas of polystyrene/clay nanocomposites displayed a smaller and more uniform average diameter of polystyrene particles as the concentration of the clay increased from 1 to 10% loading.