Reinforcement of macroscopic carbon nanotube structures by polymer intercalation: The role of polymer molecular weight and chain conformation
Citation:
Frizzell CJ, in het Panhuis M, Coutinho DH, Balkus KJ, Minett AI, Blau WJ, Coleman JN, Reinforcement of macroscopic carbon nanotube structures by polymer intercalation: The role of polymer molecular weight and chain conformation, Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, 72, 24, 2005, 245420-Download Item:
Reinforcement of macroscopic.pdf (Published (publisher's copy) - Peer Reviewed) 221.7Kb
Abstract:
Novel polymer nanotube composites were fabricated by intercalating poly vinylpyrrolidone into Buckypaper
from solution. This was carried out for both low 10k g/mol and very high 1.3M g/mol molecular
weight polymers. Measurements of the polymer mass uptake as a function of time allowed the calculation of
diffusion coefficients as 1.66 10?9 cm2 / s and 3.08 10?12 cm2 / s for the low and high molecular weight
strands, respectively. Taking into account the molecular weights, comparison of these coefficients suggests that
each polymer type undergoes a different mode of diffusion: normal diffusion for the 10k g/mol polymer, but
reptation for the 1.3M g/mol polymer. This means that while the low weight polymer retains its randomly
coiled conformation during diffusion and adsorption, the 1.3M g/mol molecule is forced to adopt an extended,
high entropy state. These differences are reflected in the mechanical properties of the intercalated papers. While
reinforcement was observed in all cases, modulus increase 3.5 and strength increase 6 enhancement
occurred at lower polymer content for the longer chain polymer. However, the papers intercalated with
the shorter chain molecules were much tougher increase 25 . This is consistent with the conformation
scheme described above.
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Grant Number
Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)
Author's Homepage:
http://people.tcd.ie/wblauhttp://people.tcd.ie/colemaj
Description:
PUBLISHED
Author: COLEMAN, JONATHAN; BLAU, WERNER
Type of material:
Journal ArticleCollections:
Series/Report no:
Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics72
24
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Full text availableKeywords:
Physics, Novel polymer nanotubeLicences: