Controlled grafting of polystyrene on silica nanoparticles using NMP: a new route without free initiator to tune the grafted chain length

International audienceWe synthesized well-defined polystyrene-grafted silica nanoparticles by adapting our previous synthesis process without using free initiator. We were able to obtain a more versatile system in which we can tune the masses of the grafted chains while controlling the polymerization, the colloidal stability and avoid the formation of free polymer chains. The final grafted objects were characterized in a refined way using SANS and the contrast matching method