Contrasting Effects of Graphene Oxide and Poly(ethylenimine) on the Polymorphism in Poly(vinylidene fluoride)

Sharma, Maya and Madras, Giridhar and Bose, Suryasarathi (2015) Contrasting Effects of Graphene Oxide and Poly(ethylenimine) on the Polymorphism in Poly(vinylidene fluoride). In: CRYSTAL GROWTH & DESIGN, 15 (7). pp. 3345-3355.

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Abstract

The nature of interaction between a heteronucleating agent (graphene oxide, GO) and a strongly polar macromolecule (poly(ethylenimine), PEI) with poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) influencing the crystalline structure and morphology has been systematically investigated in this work. PEI interacts with PVDF via ion-dipole interaction, which helps in lowering the free energy barrier for nucleation thereby promoting faster crystallization. In contrast, besides interacting with PVDF, GO also promotes heteronucleation in PVDF. We observed that both GO and PEI have very different effects on the overall crystalline morphology of PVDF. For instance, the neat PVDF showed a mixture of both alpha and beta phases when cooled from the melt. However, incorporation of 0.1 wt % GO resulted in phase transformation from the stable alpha-phase to polar beta-polymorph in PVDF. In contrast, PEI, which also resulted in faster crystallization in PVDF predominantly, resulted in the stable alpha- phase. Various techniques like Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and differential scanning calorimetry were employed to confirm the phase transformations in PVDF. PEI was further grafted onto GO nanosheets to understand the combined effects of both GO and PEI on the polymorphism in PVDF. The PVDF/PEI-GO composite showed a mixture of phases, predominantly rich in a. These phenomenal effects were further analyzed and corroborated with the specific interaction between GO and PEI with PVDF using X-ray photon scattering (XPS) and NMR. In addition, the dielectric permittivity increased significantly in the presence of GO and PEI in the composites. For instance, PVDF/PEI-GO showed the highest permittivity of 39 at 100 Hz.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	CRYSTAL GROWTH & DESIGN
Publisher:	AMER CHEMICAL SOC
Additional Information:	Copy right for this article belongs to the AMER CHEMICAL SOC, 1155 16TH ST, NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20036 USA
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Chemical Engineering Division of Mechanical Sciences > Materials Engineering (formerly Metallurgy) Division of Interdisciplinary Sciences > Centre for Nano Science and Engineering
Date Deposited:	11 Aug 2015 07:15
Last Modified:	11 Aug 2015 07:15
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/52069

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