Open AccessDistortion of Chain Conformation and Reduced Entanglement in Polymer–Graphene Oxide Nanocomposites
Author(s) -
Michael P. Weir,
D. Johnson,
Stephen C. Boothroyd,
Rebecca C. Savage,
Richard L. Thompson,
Stephen M. King,
Sarah E. Rogers,
Karl S. Coleman,
Nigel Clarke
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
acs macro letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.966
H-Index - 92
ISSN - 2161-1653
DOI - 10.1021/acsmacrolett.6b00100
Subject(s) - materials science , polymer , graphene , oxide , nanocomposite , radius of gyration , chemical physics , nanoparticle , polymer nanocomposite , plateau (mathematics) , distortion (music) , chain (unit) , molecular dynamics , quantum entanglement , radius , scaling , composite material , nanotechnology , computational chemistry , chemistry , quantum , physics , mathematics , computer security , cmos , mathematical analysis , amplifier , computer science , geometry , quantum mechanics , metallurgy , optoelectronics , astronomy
We study the conformations of polymer chains in polymer–graphene oxide nanocomposites. We show that the chains have a reduced radius of gyration that is consistent with confinement at a solid interface in the melt, as is expected for well-dispersed, high aspect ratio nanoparticles that are much larger than the polymer coil size. We show that confinement of the polymer chains causes a corresponding reduction in interchain entanglements, and we calculate a contribution to the plateau modulus from the distorted polymer network via a simple scaling argument. Our results are a significant step forward in understanding how two-dimensional nanoparticles affect global material properties at low loadings.
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