Materials 2010, 3(3), 1981-2026; doi:10.3390/ma3031981
End-Grafted Polymer Chains onto Inorganic Nano-Objects
1
Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser, Foundation for Research and Technology–Hellas, P. O. Box 1527, 711 10 Heraklion, Crete, Greece
2
Department of Materials Science and Technology, University of Crete, P. O. Box 2208, 710 03 Heraklion, Crete, Greece
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 20 January 2010 / Accepted: 11 March 2010 / Published: 18 March 2010
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Inorganic-Organic Hybrid Materials)
Abstract
Organic/inorganic nanohybrid materials have attracted particular scientific and technological interest because they combine the properties of the organic and the inorganic component. Inorganic nanoparticles exhibit interesting electrical, optical, magnetic and/or catalytic properties, which are related with their nano-scale dimensions. However, their high surface-to-volume ratio often induces agglomeration and leads to the loss of their attractive properties. Surface modification of the inorganic nano-objects with physically or chemically end-tethered polymer chains has been employed to overcome this problem. Covalent tethered polymer chains are realized by three different approaches: the “grafting to”, the “grafting from” and the “grafting through” method. This article reviews the synthesis of end-grafted polymer chains onto inorganic nanoparticles using “controlled/living” polymerization techniques, which allow control over the polymer characteristics and the grafting density of the end-tethered polymer chains. View Full-TextKeywords:
nanohybrids; core-shell nanoparticles; end-grafted polymers
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Achilleos, D.S.; Vamvakaki, M. End-Grafted Polymer Chains onto Inorganic Nano-Objects. Materials 2010, 3, 1981-2026.
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