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In Situ Formation of a Uniform Distribution of Silver Nanoparticles in PVDF: Kinetics of Formation and Resulting Properties
Author(s) -
Compton J.,
Kranbuehl D.,
Martin G.,
Espuche E.,
David L.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
macromolecular symposia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.257
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-3900
pISSN - 1022-1360
DOI - 10.1002/masy.200750121
Subject(s) - small angle x ray scattering , differential scanning calorimetry , materials science , nanoparticle , curing (chemistry) , chemical engineering , kinetics , polymer , silver nanoparticle , particle size , diffraction , thermoplastic , exothermic reaction , composite material , polymer chemistry , scattering , nanotechnology , thermodynamics , chemistry , organic chemistry , optics , physics , engineering , quantum mechanics
Hybrid organic/silver nanoparticle thermoplastic films have been prepared using a single step process where the silver nanoparticles were formed during a cure cycle applied to the film. Figure 1 is a TEM demonstrating the ability of our technique to produce silver nanoparticles in the semi‐crystalline polymer Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF). The current laboratory focus is on characterizing kinetics and particularly the diameter growth and inter‐particle distance as a function of time and temperature using the techniques of small‐angle X‐ray scattering (SAXS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and X‐ray diffraction (XRD). Using the Beaucage model, the SAXS data demonstrates that the particle size reaches equilibrium after approximately 70 minutes of curing at 240 °C. This result is also observed in the XRD results where the half width of the diffraction peaks becomes smaller quickly during the initial hour. In a parallel experiment using DSC, the exothermic heat flow increases rapidly during the first hour but does not reach completion until almost 150 minutes.