Complex inorganic/organic core-shell particles by an inverse emulsion technique

Abstract

Two synthetic approaches to modify the surface of inorganic particles are presented. In the first approach the inorganic particles are prepared in-situ in a confined space in inverse emulsions. The used amphiphilic statistical copolymers act not only as emulsifiers, but they also hydrophobize the remaining inorganic particles after the precipitation. This approach represents a versatile method to obtain various inorganic nanoparticles as well as more complex inorganic materials like core-multiple shell and perovskite-based nanoparticles. The second procedure uses preformed inorganic particles, as an aqueous dispersion, to modify them with surface active amphiphilic copolymers in a multicomponent solvent system. This method turns out to be a simple but highly efficient method to modify preformed inorganic nanoparticles. The particles are characterized by SEM, TEM and dynamic light scattering. The modified inorganic nanoparticles are suitable to be homogenously incorporated into a polymer matrix to form transparent nanocomposite materials. Copyright © 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.