The surface of attapulgite (ATP) was treated with the -mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane coupling agent (MTS) to give thiol functionalized ATP (ATP-MTS)

and then a thiol-caprolactam initiation system was constructed with the thiol groups on the surface of ATP-MTS and caprolactam (CL) in the sultion

surface-initiated living radical graft polymerization of styrene based on iniferter was realized to afford polystyrene grafted ATP hybrid particles (ATP-g-PS).The structure

composition and morphology of hybrid particles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)

thermo gravimetric fanalyze (TGA) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) methods.The polymerization kinetics of solution polymerization with different amounts of caprolactam was discussed in detail by model experiments.The results showed that MTS was bonded onto the surface of attapulgite successfully.Thiol-caprolactam initiation system can effectively initiated styrene to be graft-polymerized from the surface of ATP-MTS

and a high grafting degree of 33.3% was obtained according to TGA analysis.The diameter of ATP-g-PS hybrid particles was increased to about 60 nm.The kinetic results revealed the controllability of polymerization

and the conversion and molecular weight of PS increased with increasing polymerization time.Under the condition that the ratio value of [CL]/[SH] was 20/1

the Mn and PDI of PS obtained from slution plymerization were 1.1104 and 1.33 respectively when the conversion of monomer was 38.9%.