In this work, silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) of 4-10 nm are made by in-situ reduction of silver nitrate using sodium borohydride in the presence of trithiocarbonate-containing polystyrene (PS)-block-poly(4-vinylbenzyl chloride) (PVBC) stabilizers. The inner PVBC shell was quaternized and crosslinked by ethylene diamine. The crosslinking reaction was confirmed by both Fourier transform infrared and proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Heating test in N,N-dimethylformamide solution monitored by UV-Vis spectroscopy clearly showed that thermal stability of Ag NPs were significantly improved compared to the uncrosslinked sample. Particle size remained almost unchanged with relatively narrow size distribution after being heated at 110 �C for 18 h. This new crosslinking method can make polymer/metallic nanoparticle composites melt-processable with normal extrusion techniques and hold promises for future scale-up.

Inner shell-crosslinked silver nanoparticles with improved thermal stability for polymer/silver nanocomposites

248th National Meeting (2014)

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