Structural characterization of hydrophilic polymer blends/montmorillonite clay nanocomposites

Abstract

The nanocomposite films comprising polymer blends of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP), poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) with montmorillonite (MMT) clay as nanofiller were prepared by aqueous solution casting method. The X‐ray diffraction studies of the PVA–x wt % MMT, (PVA–PVP)–x wt % MMT, (PVA–PEO)–x wt % MMT and (PVA–PEG)–x wt % MMT nanocomposites containing MMT concentrations x = 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10 wt % of the polymer weight were carried out in the angular range (2θ) of 3.8–30°. The values of MMT basal spacing d001, expansion of clay gallery width Wcg, d‐spacing of polymer spherulite, crystallite size L and diffraction peak intensity I were determined for these nanocomposites. The values of structural parameters reveal that the linear chain PEO and PEG in the PVA blend based nanocomposites promote the amount of MMT intercalated structures, and these structures are found relatively higher for the (PVA–PEO)–x wt % MMT nanocomposites. It is observed that the presence of bulky ester‐side group in PVP backbone restricts its intercalation, whereas the adsorption behavior of PVP on the MMT nanosheets mainly results the MMT exfoliated structures in the (PVA–PVP)–x wt % MMT nanocomposites. The crystallinities of the PEO and PEG were found low due to their blending with PVA, which further decreased anomalously with the increase of MMT concentration in the nanocomposites. The decrease of polymer crystalline phase of these materials confirmed their suitability in preparation of novel solid polymer nanocomposite electrolytes. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40617.

Structural, morphological, thermal, dielectric, and electrical properties of alumina nanoparticles filled PVA–PVP blend matrix‐based polymer nanocomposites

“…All these materials exhibit a broad and low‐intensity diffraction peak around 19.6 ° . The values of Bragg's angle 2θ, basal spacing d , crystallite size L and peak intensity I of the pristine PVA film and (PVA–PVP)– x wt% Al 2 O 3 films are given in Table . The d and L values of these PNC materials were determined using the Bragg's relation λ = 2 d sinθ and the Scherrer's Equation L = 0.94 λ / β cosθ, respectively.…”

“…To get better insight toward understating of the structural properties of these PNC materials, initially, the structures of the constituents of these films are considered herewith. The PVA has a semicrystalline structure as revealed from its characteristic diffraction peak which appears at 19.598 [42,50], whereas, the PVP film exhibits broad and diffused halos at 12.048 and 22.58 [42] which confirms its highly amorphous structure. The Al 2 O 3 nanofiller used in this study is of the gamma phase which has several characteristic diffraction peaks of very low-intensity confirming its predominantly amorphous structure [29,50].…”

“…The hydroxyl (AOH) and carbonyl (C @ O) functional groups of the PVA and PVP backbone, respectively, exhibit electrostatic interactions with the additives and inorganic nanofillers, and therefore, these hydrophilic polymers are mostly preferred as binders and capping agents in the preparation of advanced composite functional materials [14,[36][37][38][39]. In addition to the pristine polymers, the blend of PVA and PVP realizes its giant applications in the area of electronics, electrical, and biomedical engineering and also in the preparations of various kind of sensors and the energy storing devices [7,18,19,23,[40][41][42][43][44][45].…”

Fumed SiO2 nanoparticle reinforced biopolymer blend nanocomposites with high dielectric constant and low dielectric loss for flexible organic electronics

“…31 The good solubility of both PVA and PVP in water is due to the formation of strong hydrogen bonding interactions between the functional groups of the polymers and water molecules. 32 PVA and PVP have good compatibility with each other, and when blended together, they form miscible blends through hydrogen bonding interactions between the OH groups of PVA and the C@O groups of PVP, thereby providing an excellent opportunity for the incorporation of nanoparticles in the PVA/ PVP blend matrix. It was reported that the miscibility and the compatibility of starch/PVA blends were improved by the addition of nano-SiO 2 .…”

Low-Density Polyethylene/Polyamide/Clay Blend Nanocomposites: Effect of Morphology of Clay on Their Photooxidation Resistance

“…Blending polymers can be considered as a suitable economical way for the formulation of high-performance polymeric-based materials, since the proper choice of the blend constituents allows obtaining multicomponent systems whose properties go well beyond the limits predicted by the simple additivity rules based on the single component properties [5]. The macroscopic performance of polymeric blends can be further improved through the introduction of nanoparticles, such as layered silicate [6], carbon nanotubes [7], carbon black [8], and graphite [9], which, for instance, can enhance the mechanical properties of polymer-based systems due to their well-known reinforcement action [10].…”