Simultaneous enhancements of mechanical properties and hydrophilic properties of polypropylene via nano‐silicon dioxide modified by polydopamine

This study is focused on the development of high‐performance composite materials based on nano silicon dioxide (nano‐SiO 2 ) modified by polydopamine (PDA). A facile one‐step method was developed to synthesize core–shell structured SiO 2 @polydopamine (PDA) nanospheres. During the synthesis, a PDA shell was simultaneously coated on the SiO 2 nanospheres to form the core–shell nanostructure which was blended with polypropylene (PP) and β nucleating agent (β‐NA) to enhance both mechanical and hydrophilic properties. Nano‐SiO 2 particles modified by PDA (SiO 2 @polydopamine) influence the crystallization of PP seriously. The results indicated that when 1%wt SiO 2 @polydopamine was added, the impact strength of composite reached the maximum value 12.60k J/m 2 increasing 137% compared with PP, the bending strength and bending modulus decreased slightly reaching 41.85 MPa, and 2192 MPa, respectively, the composite possessed hydrophilic performance with the water contact angle of 88.32°. β nucleating agent was used in all formulations, the synergistic effect toward mechanical properties with SiO 2 @polydopamine was studied. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134 , 45004.