Recent development in surface-initiated polymerizations has led to the synthesis of a library of polymer-based materials. One notable example involves the use of reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (RAFT) offering benefits such as low dispersity, predictable molecular weights, and ease of graft density determination. This route promoted further exploration of polymer brush designs while still preserving controlled polymerization characteristics. However, despite the increased popularity of polymer-based nanocomposites and potential uses, few literature examples exist on simplistic polyolefin brushes such as polyethylene and polypropylene, likely due to the challenges faced in the grafting procedure along with difficulties paired with use of gaseous reagents. In this work, we present a synthetic strategy to prepare polyethylene- and polypropylene-grafted silica nanoparticles through surface-initiated RAFT polymerization with controllable molecular weights, graft density and low dispersity. In addition, we also present a synthetic route to yield a brush copolymer consisting of both ethylene and propylene units ranging from 0% to 100% of ethylene in propylene with applications focused toward blending polyethylene and propylene homopolymers in hopes to retain or improve mechanical properties of the blended material. The synthesis, structural and physical characterization, and thermal analysis will be discussed along with challenges faced.

Design and synthesis of simplistic polyolefin copolymers grafted to silica nanoparticles via surface-initiated reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization

ACS Spring 2022

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