Intercalated and exfoliated nanocomposites based on HDPE and EPDM blends with an organoclay have been obtained through the addition of EPDM-g-MA as a compatibilizer. The combined effect of clay and EPDM-g-MA on the rheological behaviour is very noticeable with a sensible increase in viscosity which suggests the formation of a structural net of percolation induced by the presence of intercalated and exfoliated silicate layer. As deduced from rheological studies, a morphology based on nanostructured micro-domains dispersed in HDPE continuous phase is proposed for EPDM/HDPE blend nanocomposites. XRD and SEM analysis suggest that two different transport phenomena take simultaneously place during the intercalation process in the melt. One due to diffusion of HDPE chains into the tactoid and the other to diffusion of EPDM-g-MA into the silicate galleries.

Highly monodisperse polystyrene (PS) nanospheres were fabricated by surfactant-free emulsion polymerization in water using styrene, 2,2'-azobis(2-methyl propionamidine) dihydrochloride (AIBA), and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP). The size and distribution of the PS nanospheres were systematically investigated in terms of initiator concentration, stabilizer concentration, reaction temperature, reaction time, and reactant concentration. With increasing AIBA initiator concentration, PS particle sizes are raised proportionally, and can be controlled from 120 to 380 nm. Particle sizes were reduced with increasing PVP concentration. This decrease occurs because a high PVP concentration leads to a large number of primary nuclei in the early stage of polymerization. When the reaction temperature increased, the sizes of the PS particles decrease slightly. The particles grew quickly during the initial reaction stage (1-3 h) and the growth rate became steady-state after 6 h. The PS sizes approximately doubled when the reactant (styrene, PVP, azo-initiator) concentrations were increased by a factor of eight.

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Uniform, hollow nanosilica spheres were prepared by the chemical coating of cationic polystyrene (cPS) with tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), followed by calcination at 600 o C under air. cPS was synthesized by surfactantfree emulsion polymerization using 2,2'-azobis (2-methyl propionamidine) dihydrochloride as the cationic initiator, and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) as a stabilizer. The resulting cPS spheres were 280 nm in diameter, and showed monodispersion. After coating, the hollow silica product was spherically shaped, and 330 nm in diameter, with a narrow distribution of sizes. Dispersion was uniform. Wall thickness was 25 nm, and surface area was 96.4 m 2 /g, as determined by BET. The uniformity of the wall thickness was strongly dependent upon the cPS surface charge. The effects of TEOS and ammonia concentrations on shape, size, wall thickness, and surface roughness of hollow SiO2 spheres were investigated. We observed that the wall thicknesses of hollow SiO2 spheres increased and that silica size was simultaneously enhanced with increases in TEOS concentrations. When ammonia concentrations were increased, the irregularity of rough surfaces and aggregation of spherical particles were more severe because higher concentrations of ammonia result in faster hydrolysis and condensation of TEOS. These changes caused the silica to grow faster, resulting in hollow SiO2 spheres with irregular, rough surfaces.

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