School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2013 Feb;5(4):1302-9. doi: 10.1021/am3024405. Epub 2013 Feb 8.
Inspired by the radical scavenging function of melanin-like materials and versatile adhesive ability of mussel-adhesion proteins, dopamine-modified clay (D-clay) was successfully incorporated into polypropylene (PP) using an amine-terminated PP oligomer as the compatibilizer. Although the PP/D-clay nanocomposites exhibit intercalated morphology, the incorporation of D-clay greatly improves the thermo-oxidative stability and UV resistance of PP owing to the strong radical scavenging ability of polydopamine (PDA) and large contact area between PP and the PDA coating on clay mineral. Moreover, the reinforcement effect brought by D-clay is fairly significant at very low clay loadings probably owing to the strong interfacial interactions between the layered silicates and the compatibilizer as well as that between the compatibilizer and the PP matrix. The work demonstrates that D-clay is a type of promising nanofiller for thermoplastics used for outdoor applications since it stabilizes and reinforces the polymers simultaneously.
受黑色素样材料的自由基清除功能和贻贝黏附蛋白的多功能黏附能力的启发，采用端胺基的聚丙烯低聚物作为相容剂，成功将多巴胺改性黏土（D-黏土）掺入聚丙烯（PP）中。尽管 PP/D-黏土纳米复合材料呈现出插层形态，但由于聚多巴胺（PDA）具有很强的自由基清除能力以及黏土矿物上的 PDA 涂层与 PP 之间的大接触面积，D-黏土的掺入极大地提高了 PP 的热氧化稳定性和耐紫外线性。此外，由于层状硅酸盐与相容剂之间以及相容剂与 PP 基体之间的强界面相互作用，D-黏土在非常低的黏土负载下表现出相当显著的增强效果。该工作表明，D-黏土是一种用于户外应用的热塑性塑料的有前途的纳米填充剂，因为它可以同时稳定和增强聚合物。
