Department of Chemistry, Keimyung University, Daegu 42601, Republic of Korea.
Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Feb 15;25(4):2295. doi: 10.3390/ijms25042295.
Due to growing concerns about environmental pollution from plastic waste, plastic recycling research is gaining momentum. Traditional methods, such as incorporating inorganic particles, increasing cross-linking density with peroxides, and blending with silicone monomers, often improve mechanical properties but reduce flexibility for specific performance requirements. This study focuses on synthesizing silica nanoparticles with vinyl functional groups and evaluating their mechanical performance when used in recycled plastics. Silica precursors, namely sodium silicate and vinyltrimethoxysilane (VTMS), combined with a surfactant, were employed to create pores, increasing silica's surface area. The early-stage introduction of vinyl functional groups prevented the typical post-synthesis reduction in surface area. Porous silica was produced in varying quantities of VTMS, and the synthesized porous silica nanomaterials were incorporated into recycled polyethylene to induce cross-linking. Despite a decrease in surface area with increasing VTMS content, a significant surface area of 883 m/g was achieved. In conclusion, porous silica with the right amount of vinyl content exhibited improved mechanical performance, including increased tensile strength, compared to conventional porous silica. This study shows that synthesized porous silica with integrated vinyl functional groups effectively enhances the performance of recycled plastics.
由于人们对塑料废物造成的环境污染越来越担忧，塑料回收研究正在兴起。传统方法，如加入无机颗粒、用过氧化物增加交联密度以及与硅单体共混，通常可以提高机械性能，但会降低特定性能要求下的柔韧性。本研究专注于合成带有乙烯基官能团的二氧化硅纳米粒子，并评估它们在再循环塑料中的机械性能。使用硅酸钠和乙烯基三甲氧基硅烷 (VTMS) 等硅烷前体与表面活性剂结合，以制造增加二氧化硅表面积的孔。早期引入乙烯基官能团可以防止典型的后合成表面积降低。以不同量的 VTMS 生产多孔二氧化硅，并将合成的多孔二氧化硅纳米材料掺入再生聚乙烯中以引发交联。尽管随着 VTMS 含量的增加，表面积会减少，但仍实现了 883 m²/g 的显著表面积。总之，具有适量乙烯基含量的多孔二氧化硅表现出比传统多孔二氧化硅更好的机械性能，包括拉伸强度的提高。本研究表明，具有集成乙烯基官能团的合成多孔二氧化硅可以有效提高再生塑料的性能。
