Ternary hybrid polymeric nanocomposites through grafting of polystyrene on graphene oxide-TiO2 by surface initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP)

• Nanocomposite of ternary hybrid of GO-TiO2 with polystyrene.
• PS is surface grafted on GO-TiO2.
• Polymer chain lengths are well regulated by SI-ATRP living polymerization.
• Thermal stability of this hybrid is relatively high.

A ternary hybrid of graphene oxide-titania-polystyrene (GO-TiO2-PS) nanocomposite is developed where polystyrene composition is regulated by controlling growth of polymer chains and nanoarchitectonics is discussed. Graphene Oxide-TiO2 (GO-TiO2) nanocomposite is prepared by in-situ hydrothermal method and the surface is anchored with α-bromoisobutyryl bromide to activate GO-TiO2 as initiator for polymerization. In-situ grafting of polystyrene through surface initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI- ATRP) on this Br-functionalized nano-composite initiator yields GO-TiO2-PS ternary hybrid. Varying the monomer amount and keeping the concentration of initiator constant, polystyrene chain growth is regulated with narrow poly-dispersivity to achieve desired composition. This composite is well characterized by various analytical techniques like FTIR, XRD, DSC, SEM, TEM, and TGA.