study of ma-poss nanoparticles dispersion in the poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (pegdma) matrix

Polymer nanocomposites based on poly(ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) (pegdma) containing varying amounts of methacrylate polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (ma-poss) ranging from 1 to 5 wt.% were prepared. the dispersion state of the nanofillers in the polymer matrix was investigated by energy dispersive x-ray (edx), x-ray diffraction measurements (xrd) and transmission electron microscopy (tem). poss particles illustrated a fine dispersion at lower contents (≤3wt%) in polymer matrix but the imposed processing conditions were not able to prevent the formation of large poss agglomerates at high poss contents (5 wt.%) due to robust interactions between poss particles.