Inorganic–organic hybrid materials prepared from zirconium oxo‐clusters and 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate |
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Authors: | Fabrizio Girardi Luca Fambri Simona Maggini Rosa Di Maggio |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Trento, Italy;2. Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Trento, Trento, Italy;3. Interuniversity National Consortium for Science and Technology of Materials (INSTM), Firenze, Italy |
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Abstract: | This article describes the preparation and characterization of hybrid materials obtained from the polymerization of vinyl‐substituted zirconium oxo‐clusters Zr6O4(OH)4(OOCCH2CHCH2)12(n‐PrOH)]2·4(CH2CHCH2COOH) (Zr12) and 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA). The zirconium oxo‐clusters serve as cross‐linking agents, forming a 3D network by means of the copolymerization of their vinylic ligands with HEMA. To optimize the conditions for cross‐linking, the polymerization was monitored with a differential scanning calorimeter. The resulting hybrid materials were also characterized using thermo‐mechanical techniques. There was evidence not only of a greater rigidity above Tg, but also of a better thermal stability for several hybrid formulations than for simple poly‐2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate. After immersion in water, the hybrids containing 20 or 60% w/w zirconium oxo‐clusters also showed a stable behavior with an equilibrium swelling at about 27 and 18% w/w of water, respectively. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 41568. |
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Keywords: | copolymers glass transition swelling thermal properties |
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