Confining polymerization at emulsion interface by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization on reactive Pickering stabilizer

•Pickering stabilizer was chosen as template for microencapsulation through surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization on surface of stabilizer.•80% of polymeric shell of microcapsule was formed via surface-initiated ATRP mechanism and connected on Pickering stabilizer.•Initiator density and initiator efficiency reached 4.64 initiator nm−2 and 28%, respectively.•Covalent between SiO2 and polymer is important to the durability and thermal reliability of prepared MePCMs.

In this paper, surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) on surface of Pickering stabilizer for microencapsulation was investigated. By SI-ATRP on initiator-immobilized SiO2 particles, emulsion droplets were involved into microcapsules. The density of PMMA chains on SiO2 surface reached 1.31 chain nm−2 and the initiator efficiency was estimated to be 28%. The results confirmed that polymerization was confined successfully at the interface of emulsion and 80% of polymer chains were formed via SI-ATRP on Pickering stabilizer. This covalent between SiO2 and polymer endowed the prepared microcapsules with good durability and thermal reliability in phase change materials application.

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