Organosilane grafted silica: Quantitative correlation of microscopic surface characters and macroscopic surface properties

In polymer composites, organosilanes are often used to modify the surface property of silica nanoparticles and improve the interfacial properties. Surface properties of the modified silica, such as grafting density and consequent surface energy, largely depend on the molecular structure of the silane. Achieving maximum interfacial bonding between the filler and polymer requires precise control of silica surface property. In this work, four silanes with similar molecular structure but different alkyl chain lengths, trimethoxy(propyl)silane, trimethoxy(octyl)silane, hexadecyltrimethoxysilane and trimethoxy(octadecyl)silane, are selected as model agents to study their roles in influencing silica surface property. The grafting density of silane on the silica is well controlled by regulating the reaction conditions. Three main surface characters, silane grafting density, surface energy and surface potential, are measured. More importantly, a linear relationship has been correlated when plotting grafting density vs. surface energy and grafting density vs. surface potential. Utilizing these relationships, a linear model has been developed to predict grafting density and surface energy by simply measuring surface potential. This model has been validated by both commercial silica and synthesized silica particles of different sizes.