Modified Algerian Montmorillonite Clay-Stabilized Pickering Miniemulsion for Hybrid Nanocomposite Elaboration

Abstract The object of this research was to create hybrid nanoparticles from two monomers, butylacrylate (BA) and methyl methacrylate (MMA), using miniemulsion polymerization with Algerian montmorillonite (MMT-HTA+) and different surfactants, such as the mixed surfactant system (C5F11(EO)10/DDAB), undecafluoro (oxethylene) n-pentyldeca ether (C5F11(EO)10), and cationic didodecyldimethyldilammoniumbromide (DDAB). In addition, not much research has been done on Algerian montmorillonite, particularly with regard to its potential of creating exfoliated, hybrid nanoparticles. Several polymerization reaction parameters were optimized in this study, leading to the after results: a) an organophile MMT was successfully obtained by modifying the raw MMT through a two-stage reaction, and its structure was verified by X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis; b) the best cationic surfactant for stabilizing hybrid nanoparticles in MMA-co BA miniemulsion was DDAB. The most stable nanoparticles, which are typical of exfoliated nanocomposites, were formed with 0.5% of MMT-HTA+; the higher the percentage of clay, the less stable the miniemulsions and the higher their polydispersity. The effective use of n-hexadecane (HD) in stabilizing particles in miniemulsion is shown by the 50% size decrease observed with the addition of 2% of this molecule.