Wang Hongqing, Li Zewen, Hong Kailiang, Chen Mengna, Qiao Zhen, Yuan Zhijuan, Wang Zhe
Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering Process and Technology for High-Efficiency Conversion, College of Heilongjiang Province, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Heilongjiang University Harbin 150080 People's Republic of China
RSC Adv. 2019 Sep 17;9(50):29087-29096. doi: 10.1039/c9ra05493f. eCollection 2019 Sep 13.
Although carbon nanotubes (CNTs) exhibit excellent performance, they are prone to agglomeration because of their high surface energy and large specific surface area. Moreover, CNTs are hardly compatible with polymers due to their nonpolar properties, as manifested by the less stable interface between these two components. This study was aimed at improving the compatibility between multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and polypropylene (PP). Herein, a practical strategy for the modification of MWNTs and the subsequent fabrication of polypropylene-grafted multi-walled carbon nanotubes (PP--MWNTs) are reported. The morphology of the as-obtained PP--MWNTs was observed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), a transmission electron microscope (TEM) and a polarizing microscope, whereas their elemental composition and bond structures were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used for crystallographic analyses. A performance comparison between the PP--MWNT samples and the undecorated samples was conducted based on the results obtained dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), tensile testing, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Serial characterizations proved the successful grafting of PP molecular chains onto the MWNT surfaces. Thus, the MWNTs, the filler phase, could be included into the PP matrix covalently and thus existed as an integrated component of the composite system. As a consequence, the specific design of PP--MWNTs remarkably improved both thermal and mechanical properties of the PP composites.
尽管碳纳米管（CNTs）表现出优异的性能，但由于其高表面能和大比表面积，它们易于团聚。此外，由于碳纳米管的非极性特性，它们很难与聚合物相容，这表现为这两种组分之间的界面不太稳定。本研究旨在提高多壁碳纳米管（MWNTs）与聚丙烯（PP）之间的相容性。在此，报道了一种修饰多壁碳纳米管的实用策略以及随后制备聚丙烯接枝多壁碳纳米管（PP-MWNTs）的方法。使用扫描电子显微镜（SEM）、透射电子显微镜（TEM）和偏光显微镜观察了所得PP-MWNTs的形态，而通过傅里叶变换红外（FT-IR）光谱、能量色散光谱（EDS）和X射线光电子能谱（XPS）对其元素组成和键结构进行了表征。X射线衍射（XRD）用于晶体学分析。基于动态力学分析（DMA）、拉伸试验、差示扫描量热法（DSC）和热重分析（TGA）的结果，对PP-MWNT样品和未修饰样品进行了性能比较。一系列表征证明了PP分子链成功接枝到MWNT表面。因此，作为填料相的多壁碳纳米管可以共价地纳入PP基体中，从而作为复合体系的一个整体组分存在。结果，PP-MWNTs的特定设计显著改善了PP复合材料的热性能和力学性能。
