Enhancing cement hydration by core/shell PS@SiO₂ nanoparticles

Nanoparticles are widely used in construction. Here, nano-SiO₂ is employed, in a way that prevents agglomeration of the nanoparticles, as pozzolanic material to improve Portland cement hydration and to improve the properties of the concrete. To explore the effect of nano-SiO₂ and core-shell PS@SiO₂ on cement properties, spherical polystyrene particles were prepared by dispersion polymerization of styrene in polar solvents and characterized by FTIR and E-SEM. The core shells PS@SiO₂ were synthesized by Stöber method. The results showed an amorphous nano-SiO₂ layer can be deposited uniformly on polystyrene particles. This core/shell structure was reducing the aggregation of nano-SiO₂ effectively. It was shown that PS@SiO₂ particles improved the concrete performances compared to blended cement with nano-SiO₂ due to the agglomeration affect.