Influence of nanoparticle surface chemistry and size on supercritical carbon dioxide processed nanocomposite foam morphology

Creating polymer foams with controlled pore size and pore density is an important part of controlling foam properties. The addition of nanoparticles has been shown to cause heterogeneous nucleation and can be used to reduce pore size. In the current study, the effects of filler size and filler surface chemistry on pore nucleation in silica/PMMA nanocomposites are investigated. It was found that as the nanofiller size decreased, the pore density increased by a factor of 2-3 decades compared to that of unfilled PMMA (pore cell densities above 10¹² cells/cm³ were obtained). In addition, fluorination of the silica nanoparticle surface led to decreased pore size without changing the degree of silica aggregation and overall density. By monitoring the pore density as a function of pressure, a qualitative comparison was obtained that showed that fluorination of the nanoparticle reduced the critical free energy of nucleation.