Three-dimensional heterostructure of metallic nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes as potential nanofiller

Nanoscale Research Letters, Dec 2012

The effect of the dimensionality of metallic nanoparticle-and carbon nanotube-based fillers on the mechanical properties of an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) polymer matrix was examined. ABS composite films, reinforced with low dimensional metallic nanoparticles (MNPs, 0-D) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs, 1-D) as nanofillers, were fabricated by a combination of wet phase inversion and hot pressing. The tensile strength and elongation of the ABS composite were increased by 39% and 6%, respectively, by adding a mixture of MNPs and CNTs with a total concentration of 2 wt%. However, the tensile strength and elongation of the ABS composite were found to be significantly increased by 62% and 55%, respectively, upon addition of 3-D heterostructures with a total concentration of 2 wt%. The 3-D heterostructures were composed of multiple CNTs grown radially on the surface of MNP cores, resembling a sea urchin. The mechanical properties of the ABS/3-D heterostructured nanofiller composite films were much improved compared to those of an ABS/mixture of 0-D and 1-D nanofillers composite films at various filler concentrations. This suggests that the 3-D heterostructure of the MNPs and CNTs plays a key role as a strong reinforcing agent in supporting the polymer matrix and simultaneously serves as a discrete force-transfer medium to transfer the loaded tension throughout the polymer matrix.

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Three-dimensional heterostructure of metallic nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes as potential nanofiller

Whi Dong Kim 0 Jun Young Huh 2 Ji Young Ahn 0 Jae Beom Lee 0 1 Dongyun Lee 0 4 Suck Won Hong 0 3 Soo Hyung Kim 0 2 0 Department of Nanofusion Technology, College of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Pusan National University , 30 Jangjeon-dong, Geumjung- gu, Busan 609-735, South Korea 1 Department of Nanomedical Engineering, College of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Pusan National University , 30 Jangjeon-dong, Geumjung- gu, Busan 609-735, South Korea 2 Department of Nanomechatronics Engineering, College of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Pusan National University , 30 Jangjeon-dong, Geumjung-gu, Busan 609-735, South Korea 3 Department of Nanomaterial Engineering, College of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Pusan National University , 30 Jangjeon-dong, Geumjung-gu, Busan 609-735, South Korea 4 Department of Nanofusion Engineering, College of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Pusan National University , 30 Jangjeon-dong, Geumjung-gu, Busan 609-735, South Korea The effect of the dimensionality of metallic nanoparticle-and carbon nanotube-based fillers on the mechanical properties of an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) polymer matrix was examined. ABS composite films, reinforced with low dimensional metallic nanoparticles (MNPs, 0-D) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs, 1-D) as nanofillers, were fabricated by a combination of wet phase inversion and hot pressing. The tensile strength and elongation of the ABS composite were increased by 39% and 6%, respectively, by adding a mixture of MNPs and CNTs with a total concentration of 2 wt%. However, the tensile strength and elongation of the ABS composite were found to be significantly increased by 62% and 55%, respectively, upon addition of 3-D heterostructures with a total concentration of 2 wt%. The 3-D heterostructures were composed of multiple CNTs grown radially on the surface of MNP cores, resembling a sea urchin. The mechanical properties of the ABS/3-D heterostructured nanofiller composite films were much improved compared to those of an ABS/mixture of 0-D and 1-D nanofillers composite films at various filler concentrations. This suggests that the 3-D heterostructure of the MNPs and CNTs plays a key role as a strong reinforcing agent in supporting the polymer matrix and simultaneously serves as a discrete force-transfer medium to transfer the loaded tension throughout the polymer matrix. - Background Nanostructured materials offer the advantages of a large specific surface area and strong mechanical properties. Thus, they have been used as fillers to reinforce polymer matrices. The interactions that occur at the molecular level owing to the large interfacial contact area between a polymer and nanofiller play a major role in dramatically enhancing the mechanical properties of hybrid polymernanofiller composites. Among the various characteristics of nanofillers, the dimensionality of nanofillers dispersed in polymer matrices has been of particular interest in recent years. Numerous research groups have examined the effect of nanofillers with dimensionalities of 0 or 1 on the mechanical properties of polymer composites. For example, the addition of small amounts of metallic nanoparticles (MNPs, 0-D) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs, 1-D) was found to significantly enhance the mechanical properties of polymer composites by as much as approximately 3% and approximately 100%, respectively [1-9]. We expect that MNPs added to a polymer matrix can only interact at several points along a particular polymer chain, whereas CNTs added to a polymer matrix can interact over the length of the polymer chain. Here, we posed the question of whether the combination of the 3-D heterostructures of both MNP-and CNT-based nanofillers in a polymer matrix can synergistically affect the mechanical properties of polymer-nanofiller composites. In order to answer this question, we systematically investigated the effect of nanofillers with the 3-D heterostructure of MNPs and CNTs on the mechanical properties of polymer composites. The heterostructure of MNPs and CNTs is composed of multiple CNTs grown radially on the entire surface of an MNP. These CNTs resemble a sea urchin and are hereafter referred to as sea urchin-like CNTs, or SU-CNTs [10,11]. In this study, an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) was chosen as a specific example of polymer matrix because it is considered superior for its hardness, gloss, and toughness. We would intuitively expect that the SU-CNTs could have a novel enhancement effect on the mechanical properties of ABS polymer matrices due to their unique 3-D carbon nanostructure. Methods The fabrication of 3-D SU-CNTs was previously described in detail [10,11]. Briefly, pure Ni-Al MNPs in the gas phase were first generated by conventional spray pyrolyzing reactor heated at 1,000C under a flow of nitrogen (1,000 sccm) and hydrogen (100 sccm) gas. The particles were then continuously transported into a thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor heated at 750C where th (...truncated)


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Whi Dong Kim, Jun Young Huh, Ji Young Ahn, Jae Beom Lee, Dongyun Lee, Suck Won Hong, Soo Hyung Kim. Three-dimensional heterostructure of metallic nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes as potential nanofiller, Nanoscale Research Letters, 2012, pp. 202, Volume 7, Issue 1, DOI: 10.1186/1556-276X-7-202