Tailoring interfacial properties of polyethylene oxide/ hexagonal boron nitride nanocomposites via polydopamine
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Abstract
Boron nitride (BN) nanomaterials, with high chemical inertness and a lack of functional groups are not able to form sufficient interfacial interactions with polymers in polymer nanocomposites. Polydopamine (PDA), an adhesive protein with high catechol and amine content, was found to be an effective non-covalent surfactant for BN. This study investigated the roles of PDA on the interfacial properties of the polyethylene oxide (PEO) /BN nanocomposites via rheological and dielectric analyses. PDA-modified hexagonal boron nitride (SBN) nanoparticles led to strong interfacial interactions between PEO and SBN, ultimately impacting rheological and dielectric properties. PEO/0.5wt%SBN nanocomposites produced moduli comparable to that of PEO/20wt% pristine boron nitride (PBN) nanocomposites. Furthermore, PEO/SBN nanocomposites showed a noticeable concentration dependence of rheological properties that PEO/PBN nanocomposites did not show. PDA-modified interfaces also contributed to slower PEO relaxation characteristics, indicating restricted mobility of PEO chains near the interfaces, which subsequently accounted for the apparent shift of interfacial polarization to lower frequencies in PEO/SBN nanocomposites, especially at high SBN concentration and high temperature, showing improved thermal stability of PDA-modified interfaces.