In this study, Knoevenagel condensation reaction was performed to prepare a new designed silane coupling agent from the reaction of the synthetic 4-H pyran
derivative (EA) and 3-isocyanatopropyl triethoxysilane.
The surface modification of silica nanoparticles by novel
modifier was achieved by sol–gel technology. Also, in the
next step, PVA/silica nanocomposites have been fabricated
to investigate the chemical and physical properties of the
new decorated nanoparticles. The surface modification of
silica nanoparticles reduced the aggregation of nanoparticles effectively using newly prepared silane coupling agent
and showed the enhanced performance for host matrix.
FT-IR analysis demonstrated that the six membered ring
moieties have been covalently bonded to the surface of the
SiO2 nanoparticles. The PVA/SiO2 nanocomposites including 2, 5, 10 and 15 wt% nano contents have been prepared.
Characterization of the prepared samples with FT-IR, field
emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and
atomic force microscopy (AFM) confirmed the synthesis
of the nanocomposites with good dispersion properties for
nanoparticles. The particles size of ornamented nanoparticles in nanocomposites are about 50–60 nm as characterized by FE-SEM and AFM analyses.