A novel approach for the preparation of PMMA–PDMS core–shell particles with PDMS in the shell

Abstract The core/shell particles consisting of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) core and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) shell via 3-(methacryloxypropyl)-trimethoxysilane (MPS) as the medium to link the core and shell were prepared in our present study by successive seeding polymerization under kinetically controlled conditions and were characterized by FT-IR, particle size analyzer, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The picture of optical microscope showed the clear form of PDMS-0 and PDMS-40 (the content of PDMS in the particles), which approached to monodispersed distribution. Compared with the PMMA microspheres, PDMS-40 presented an evident core/shell structure through the observation of TEM. Additionally, the study of XPS revealed that PDMS could be grafted onto the surface of PMMA particles and the atomic ratio of C/Si on the surface of PDMS-40 was very close to the ratio of C/Si in the molecule of PDMS. The surface properties of the films produced from the core/shell microspheres also were investigated by contact angle method, contrast with the homopolymer of PMMA, the core/shell particles were more effective to form hydrophobic surface and the water repellency on the surface would be better than that of PMMA.