Novel polymer nanocomposites based on polystyrene and Ti-functionalized polyhedral silsesquioxanes

Ti-based polyhedral silsesquioxanes (Ti-POSSs) have been prepared and dispersed in polystyrene (PS), by in situ polymerization, and the resulting materials have been characterized by several experimental techniques including both scanning (SEM) and transmission (TEM) electron microscopy, wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), X-ray photospectroscopy (XPS), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA/DTG). TEM and SEM analyses proved that PS nanocomposites of the samples based on heptaisobutyl-Ti-POSS (HEI-Ti-POSS) are formed, where HEI-Ti-POSS cages are directly linked to the macromolecules via Ti-C bonds. The presence of HEI-Ti-POSS enhances the thermo-oxidative stability of PS-based nanocomposites and does not significantly affect the polymer molecular mass.