Effect of surfactant type on the particle dispersion in Ag/polystyrene nanocomposite prepared by microemulsion method

In this research work silver/polystyrene nanocomposite has been prepared using polymerization of w/o microemulsion system with two various types of surfactants. In order to investigate effect of surfactant-polymer interaction on the quality of final nanocomposite product, AOT as anionic surfactant and tween 80 as non-ionic surfactant, isobuthanol as co-surfactant and styrene monomer as oil phase were used to prepare microemulsion systems. Surface tension of the microemulsions was measured as a criterion for the reaction media properties. The microemulsion systems were polymerized by benzoyl peroxide initiator following formation of Ag nanoparticles in the fluid medium. The UV-vis absorption analysis has been used to trace the growth process in the microemulsion system. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to determine the morphology, particle size and dispersion of the Ag in the synthesized nanocomposites. The idea established in current work can potentially be used to synthesis uniform and morphologically well-defined nanocomposites by microemulsion method.