Viscoelastic properties and morphological characterization of silica/polystyrene nanocomposites synthesized by nitroxide-mediated polymerization

Combination of all these techniques shows that the morphology of the nanocomposite materials is controlled by grafting. The steric hindrance generated by the grafted polymer chains enables partial destruction of the agglomerates that compose the original silica particles when the latter are dispersed either in a solvent or in a polymeric matrix.