Nano‐Structured Polymer‐Silica Composite Derived from a Marine Diatom via Deactivation Enhanced Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization Grafting

Abstract

A diatom frustule is functionalized with an alkyl halide to allow the growth of a polymer from its surface via deactivation enhanced atom transfer radical polymerization. The diatom core is partially dissolved to form a more translational platform. This method can be used to create an array of nano-structured composites derived from the species-specific diatom architecture.