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.