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Designer Core–Shell Nanoparticles as Polymer Foam Cell Nucleating Agents: The Impact of Molecularly Engineered Interfaces
- Source :
- ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 13(14), 17034-17045. American Chemical Society, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- American Chemical Society (ACS), 2021.
-
Abstract
- The interface between nucleating agents and polymers plays a pivotal role in heterogeneous cell nucleation in polymer foaming. We describe how interfacial engineering of nucleating particles by polymer shells impacts cell nucleation efficiency in CO2 blown polymer foams. Core–shell nanoparticles (NPs) with a 80 nm silica core and various polymer shells including polystyrene (PS), poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), and poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN) are prepared and used as heterogeneous nucleation agents to obtain CO2 blown PMMA and PS micro- and nanocellular foams. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and transmission electron microscopy are employed to confirm the successful synthesis of core–shell NPs. The cell size and cell density are determined by scanning electron microscopy. Silica NPs grafted with a thin PDMS shell layer exhibit the highest nucleation efficiency values, followed by PAN. The nucleation efficiency of PS- and PMMA-grafted NPs are comparable with the untreated particles and are significantly lower when compared to PDMS and PAN shells. Molecular dynamics simulations (MDS) are employed to better understand CO2 absorption and nucleation, in particular to study the impact of interfacial properties and CO2-philicity. The MDS results show that the incompatibility between particle shell layers and the polymer matrix results in immiscibility at the interface area, which leads to a local accumulation of CO2 at the interfaces. Elevated CO2 concentrations at the interfaces combined with the high interfacial tension (caused by the immiscibility) induce an energetically favorable cell nucleation process. These findings emphasize the importance of interfacial effects on cell nucleation and provide guidance for designing new, highly efficient nucleation agents in nanocellular polymer foaming.
- Subjects :
- Thermogravimetric analysis
Materials science
Scanning electron microscope
Interface compatibility
UT-Hybrid-D
Nucleation
Nanoparticle
Designer core-shell nanoparticles
02 engineering and technology
Gas-partitioning
010402 general chemistry
01 natural sciences
designer core−shell nanoparticles
chemistry.chemical_compound
COaccumulation
General Materials Science
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
chemistry.chemical_classification
CO2 accumulation
Molecular dynamics simulations
technology, industry, and agriculture
Polymer
021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology
Microcellular and nanocellular foams
0104 chemical sciences
Foam cell nucleation
chemistry
Chemical engineering
Particle
Polystyrene
0210 nano-technology
Research Article
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 19448252 and 19448244
- Volume :
- 13
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....29210a732b1d972daaa4add3497812a8