Molecular Alignment of a Meta-Aramid on Carbon Nanotubes by in Situ Interfacial Polymerization

Cécile A.C. Chazot; Behzad Damirchi; Byeongdu Lee; Adri C.T. Van Duin; A. John Hart

doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c03866

Molecular Alignment of a Meta-Aramid on Carbon Nanotubes by in Situ Interfacial Polymerization

Cécile A.C. Chazot^*, Behzad Damirchi, Byeongdu Lee, Adri C.T. Van Duin, A. John Hart^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Materials Science and Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Molecularly organized nanocomposites of polymers and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have great promise as high-performance materials; in particular, conformal deposition of polymers can control interfacial properties for mechanical load transfer, electrical or thermal transport, or electro/chemical transduction. However, controllability of polymer-CNT interaction remains a challenge with common processing methods that combine CNTs and polymers in melt or in solution, often leading to nonuniform polymer distribution and CNT aggregation. Here, we demonstrate CNTs within net-shape sheets can be controllably coated with a conformal coating of meta-aramid by simultaneous capillary infiltration and interfacial polymerization. We determine that π-interaction between the polymer and CNTs results in chain alignment parallel to the CNT outer wall. Subsequent nucleation and growth of the precipitated aramid forms a smooth continuous layered sheath around the CNTs. These findings motivate future investigation of mechanical properties of the resulting composites, and adaptation of the in situ polymerization method to other substrates.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	998-1006
Number of pages	9
Journal	Nano letters
Volume	22
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c03866
State	Published - Feb 9 2022

Funding

Funding was provided by the NASA Space Technology Research Institute (STRI) for Ultra-Strong Composites by Computational Design (US-COMP), Grant NNX17AJ32G. C.A.C.C. was also supported by a 2020–2021 MathWorks Engineering Fellowship at MIT. The research conducted at the Advanced Photon Source by B.L. was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. This work made use of the MRSEC Shared Experimental Facilities at MIT, supported by the National Science Foundation under award number DMR-1419807. This work also utilized the electron microscopy facilities at MIT.nano. This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at Argonne National Laboratory and is based on research supported by the U.S. DOE Office of Science Basic Energy Sciences under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. The authors also thank William. J. Sawyer and Richard B. Church from MIT for useful discussions regarding this work.

Keywords

Carbon nanotubes
Interfacial Polymerization
Molecular Dynamics
Nucleation
Polymers

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Condensed Matter Physics
Mechanical Engineering
Bioengineering
General Chemistry
General Materials Science

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10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c03866

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title = "Molecular Alignment of a Meta-Aramid on Carbon Nanotubes by in Situ Interfacial Polymerization",

abstract = "Molecularly organized nanocomposites of polymers and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have great promise as high-performance materials; in particular, conformal deposition of polymers can control interfacial properties for mechanical load transfer, electrical or thermal transport, or electro/chemical transduction. However, controllability of polymer-CNT interaction remains a challenge with common processing methods that combine CNTs and polymers in melt or in solution, often leading to nonuniform polymer distribution and CNT aggregation. Here, we demonstrate CNTs within net-shape sheets can be controllably coated with a conformal coating of meta-aramid by simultaneous capillary infiltration and interfacial polymerization. We determine that π-interaction between the polymer and CNTs results in chain alignment parallel to the CNT outer wall. Subsequent nucleation and growth of the precipitated aramid forms a smooth continuous layered sheath around the CNTs. These findings motivate future investigation of mechanical properties of the resulting composites, and adaptation of the in situ polymerization method to other substrates.",

keywords = "Carbon nanotubes, Interfacial Polymerization, Molecular Dynamics, Nucleation, Polymers",

author = "Chazot, {C{\'e}cile A.C.} and Behzad Damirchi and Byeongdu Lee and {Van Duin}, {Adri C.T.} and Hart, {A. John}",

note = "Funding Information: Funding was provided by the NASA Space Technology Research Institute (STRI) for Ultra-Strong Composites by Computational Design (US-COMP), Grant NNX17AJ32G. C.A.C.C. was also supported by a 2020–2021 MathWorks Engineering Fellowship at MIT. The research conducted at the Advanced Photon Source by B.L. was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. Funding Information: This work made use of the MRSEC Shared Experimental Facilities at MIT, supported by the National Science Foundation under award number DMR-1419807. This work also utilized the electron microscopy facilities at MIT.nano. This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at Argonne National Laboratory and is based on research supported by the U.S. DOE Office of Science Basic Energy Sciences under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. The authors also thank William. J. Sawyer and Richard B. Church from MIT for useful discussions regarding this work. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 American Chemical Society.",

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doi = "10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c03866",

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AU - Damirchi, Behzad

AU - Lee, Byeongdu

AU - Van Duin, Adri C.T.

AU - Hart, A. John

N1 - Funding Information: Funding was provided by the NASA Space Technology Research Institute (STRI) for Ultra-Strong Composites by Computational Design (US-COMP), Grant NNX17AJ32G. C.A.C.C. was also supported by a 2020–2021 MathWorks Engineering Fellowship at MIT. The research conducted at the Advanced Photon Source by B.L. was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. Funding Information: This work made use of the MRSEC Shared Experimental Facilities at MIT, supported by the National Science Foundation under award number DMR-1419807. This work also utilized the electron microscopy facilities at MIT.nano. This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at Argonne National Laboratory and is based on research supported by the U.S. DOE Office of Science Basic Energy Sciences under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. The authors also thank William. J. Sawyer and Richard B. Church from MIT for useful discussions regarding this work. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 American Chemical Society.

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N2 - Molecularly organized nanocomposites of polymers and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have great promise as high-performance materials; in particular, conformal deposition of polymers can control interfacial properties for mechanical load transfer, electrical or thermal transport, or electro/chemical transduction. However, controllability of polymer-CNT interaction remains a challenge with common processing methods that combine CNTs and polymers in melt or in solution, often leading to nonuniform polymer distribution and CNT aggregation. Here, we demonstrate CNTs within net-shape sheets can be controllably coated with a conformal coating of meta-aramid by simultaneous capillary infiltration and interfacial polymerization. We determine that π-interaction between the polymer and CNTs results in chain alignment parallel to the CNT outer wall. Subsequent nucleation and growth of the precipitated aramid forms a smooth continuous layered sheath around the CNTs. These findings motivate future investigation of mechanical properties of the resulting composites, and adaptation of the in situ polymerization method to other substrates.

AB - Molecularly organized nanocomposites of polymers and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have great promise as high-performance materials; in particular, conformal deposition of polymers can control interfacial properties for mechanical load transfer, electrical or thermal transport, or electro/chemical transduction. However, controllability of polymer-CNT interaction remains a challenge with common processing methods that combine CNTs and polymers in melt or in solution, often leading to nonuniform polymer distribution and CNT aggregation. Here, we demonstrate CNTs within net-shape sheets can be controllably coated with a conformal coating of meta-aramid by simultaneous capillary infiltration and interfacial polymerization. We determine that π-interaction between the polymer and CNTs results in chain alignment parallel to the CNT outer wall. Subsequent nucleation and growth of the precipitated aramid forms a smooth continuous layered sheath around the CNTs. These findings motivate future investigation of mechanical properties of the resulting composites, and adaptation of the in situ polymerization method to other substrates.

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Molecular Alignment of a Meta-Aramid on Carbon Nanotubes by in Situ Interfacial Polymerization

Abstract

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Keywords

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