Design, Preparation and Thermal Characterization of Polystyrene Composites Reinforced with Novel Three-Cages POSS Molecules

Novel polystyrene (PS)/polyhedral oligomeric silsequioxanes (POSSs) nanocomposites were designed and prepared by in situ polymerization, using, for the first time, three-cage POSS molecules. The synthesized compounds were first characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and (1)H NMR spectroscopy to verify the obtaining of the designed products before their thermal performance was evaluated and compared with those of pristine PS and the corresponding single-cage POSSs nanocomposites. The thermal behaviour was checked by the means of the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was also used to confirm the hypothesis about the dispersion/aggregation of the POSS molecules into the polymer matrix. The parameters chosen to evaluate the thermal stability of the investigated compounds, namely temperature at 5% of mass loss (T(5%)) and solid residue at 700 °C, showed a significant increase in the stability of the polymers reinforced with the three-cages POSS, in comparison to both PS and single-cage POSS reinforced PSs, which therefore turn out to be promising molecular fillers for nanocomposite production.