Zinc oxide/polymethylmethacrylate composite microspheres by in situ suspension polymerization and their morphological study

Homogenously zinc oxide (ZnO)-dispersed polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) composite microspheres were produced considering the interfacial characteristics of ZnO and PMMA in in situ suspension polymerization. The morphological observation with electron microscopes revealed that nano-sized ZnO particles were embedded homogeneously in the inner part of PMMA microspheres. Moreover, their spherical shape could be maintained to a large amount of ZnO in the PMMA phase. From this study, it was found that one of key requirements in the synthesis of inorganic/polymer composite microspheres was the enhanced interfacial compatibility between inorganic and polymer, which was achieved by treating the surface of inorganics hydrophobically and imparting conformational anchorage factor at inorganic interfaces. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.