One-pot synthesis of organic-inorganic hybrid polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane microparticles in a double-zone temperature controlled microfluidic reactor

Abstract

Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) particles are one of the smallest organosilica nano-cage structures with high multifunctionality that show both organic and inorganic properties. Until now poly(POSS) structures have been synthesized from beginning with a methacryl-POSS monomer in free-radical mechanism with batch-wise methods that use sacrificial templates or additional multisteps. This study introduces a novel one-pot synthesis inside a continuous flow, double temperature zone microfluidic reactor where the methodology is based on dispersion polymerization. As a result, spherical monodisperse POSS microparticles were obtained and characterized to determine their morphology, surface chemical structure, and thermal behavior by SEM, FTIR, and TGA, respectively. These results were also compared and reported with the outcomes of batch-wise synthesis.