The impact of fullerenes on the ordering of polyacrylonitrile during nanocomposites formation

Journal Article · Tue Aug 18 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Polymer

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2015.08.028· OSTI ID:1265843

Imel, Adam E. ^[1]; Dadmun, Mark D. ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
2. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

The production of polymer nanocomposites from solution consists of the mixing of the polymer and nanoparticle in solution and subsequent evaporation of the solvent. Here, we examine the formation of polyacrylonitrile and C60 fullerene nanocomposites, with a focus on monitoring these two steps.This study indicates that the nanoparticles are individually dispersed with the polymer chains in solution prior to deposition and in the final film. As the solution becomes more concentrated, the nanoparticles are sequestered to the outer edges of the polymer crystals, altering the detected crystal structure. The self-assembled structure of the crystalline polymer is directed by the addition of C₆₀ and manifests itself as a peak in small-angle X-ray scattering on a length scale of ~150 . Moreover, our results suggest that the non-covalent molecular interactions between C60 and polyacrylonitrile matrix are sufficiently strong to alter the self-assembled morphology of the polymer and the meso- and nanoscale structures in the nanocomposite.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1265843
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1345269
• Journal Information: Polymer, Vol. 75, Issue C; ISSN 0032-3861
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE