Facile construction of hybrid polystyrene with a string of lantern shape from monovinyl-substituted POSS and commercial polystyrene via Friedel–Crafts reaction and its properties

Abstract

Hybrid polystyrene was easily prepared from monovinyl-substituted POSS and commercial polystyrene (PS) via a straightforward Friedel–Crafts reaction. The resulting hybrid polystyrene was thoroughly investigated by a series of characterization methods, such as FTIR, NMR, XRD, SAXS, DLS, POM, DSC, TGA, SEM, TEM and an Abbe refractometer. Results showed that POSS was well dispersed in the polystyrene matrix at a nearly molecular level and no macrophase separation was observed; these hybrid polystyrenes exhibited different properties from pristine polystyrene, for example, solubility, crystalline and thermal properties etc. Considering the strong aggregation tendency of POSS in nonsolvents, it was interesting to study the self-assembly behaviors of these hybrid polystyrenes modified by POSS. The morphology of these hybrid polystyrenes in ethanol was investigated by dynamic lighting scattering, and transmission electron microscopy. The studies illustrated that these hybrid polystyrenes could self-assemble into a series of spheres in ethanol; the diameters of these spheres decreased with increasing POSS loading.