Polyethylenimine Assisted Bio-Inspired Surface Functionalization of Hexagonal Boron Nitride for Enhancing the Crystallization and the Properties of Poly(Arylene Ether Nitrile)

Abstract

Semi-crystalline poly(arylene ether nitrile) (PEN) has exhibited remarkable potential in various fields. However, the inherent drawbacks of PEN such as slow crystalline rate and low crystallinity limit its further development. To alleviate this problem, the choice of nanofiller as nucleation agent and the interfacial compatibility between nanofiller and PEN matrix are two momentous factors that need to be considered. Accordingly, in this work, functionalized hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN@(PDA+PEI)) was successfully synthesized via polyethylenimine (PEI) assisted bio-inspired surface functionalization, and then homogeneously dispersed in the PEN resin using solution casting method to obtain functional polymer nanocomposite films with strengthening the crystallization behavior, mechanical and dielectric properties. Various testing methods including differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and polarizing microscope (POM) were applied to intricately analyze the effect of h-BN@(PDA+PEI) on the crystallization behavior of PEN composites. The testing results certificated that the h-BN@(PDA+PEI) can effectively improve the crystallinity (from 6.56% to 14.90%), and the spherulite size of PEN was reduced while the nucleation density of nanocomposites was raised. Furthermore, the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics demonstrated that 2 wt% h-BN@(PDA+PEI) could significantly reduce the cold crystallization temperature (Tp) and the crystallization activation energy (Ea) (from 359.7 KJ/mol to 292.8 KJ/mol), while it improved the crystallization rate (Kc) of PEN. In addition, the mechanical and dielectric properties of nanocomposite films were also reinforced to further broaden the application of semi-crystalline PEN. Therefore, the h-BN@(PDA+PEI) can function as an effectual nucleating agent and enhance the performance of PEN.

Enhanced thermal conductivity of polyarylene ether nitrile composites blending hexagonal boron nitride

“…With the increase of fillers, the fillers assembled and form a stress center under the influence of Van der Waals force and interfacial force. Cleavage fracture is more likely to take place under the fracture stress 29,30 . Especially when filler content reaches at 50 wt%, the composite PEN/h‐BN‐50 wt% is too brittle to evaluate its mechanical performance.…”

Polymer-Coated Nanoparticles for Therapeutic and Diagnostic Non-10B Enriched Polymer-Coated Boron Carbon Oxynitride (BCNO) Nanoparticles as Potent BNCT Drug

“…Upon functionalization with PEI, there is a reduction in the B-O stretching, while the amine stretching intensity at around 1600 cm −1 and 3400 cm −1 increases. This result indicates that the B-O bonding was substituted with B-N bonding from the reaction between the amine group from PEI with the electrophilic boron on the surface of BCNO [75,76]. Upon functionalization with PEG, the C-O-C stretching at around 1200 cm −1 and C-O stretching at around 1100 cm −1 emerged, which corresponded to the ether functional group in PEG.…”

Achieving Secondary Dispersion of Modified Nanoparticles by Hot-Stretching to Enhance Dielectric and Mechanical Properties of Polyarylene Ether Nitrile Composites

“…In recent years, polymer-based nanocomposites have proved to be an important dielectric material by virtue of the high dielectric permittivity, flexibility and excellent thermal stability for widely using as dielectrics in the electronic system [11,12,13,14,15]. It is mainly because the nanocomposites can absorb the dominants of polymer matrix and inorganic nanofillers.…”