Nanocomposites, characterization morphology

Nagendiran, S., Alagar, M., Hamerton, I. Octasilsesquioxane-reinforced DGEBA and TGDDM epoxy nanocomposites Characterization of thermal, dielectric and morphological properties. Acta Mater. 58, 3345-3356 (2010)... 

It is always necessary to carefully characterize the polymer structure in order to ensure a sort of the dispersion for the nanoclays in polymers. XRD analysis and TEM would provide some information on the nanocomposite structural morphology. The diffraction patterns for nanoclay and nanocomposites are displayed in Figure 1 (a). The Cloisite 20A itself has a single peak at around 3.6° with d-space of 2.4 nm. 

A novel nanocomposite membrane, poly dimethyl siloxane (PDMS)/Au was prepared for carbon dioxide/methane separation. Synthesis of stabilized nano particles is also reported. The nanoparticles were characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The hybrid membrane was characterized morphologically by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the change in inter-segmental distance due to filler loading by wide angle X-ray diffraction patterns (WAXD). The gas transport properties were measured at different pressures and temperatures. The effects of filler loading on permselectivity, diffiisivity selectivity and solubility selectivity are reported for CO2/CH4 separation. Reverse selective phenomena of PDMS/Au nanocomposite membrane over the conventional PDMS membrane is explained based on sorption kinetics of CO2. 

This is a nonpolar rubber with very little unsamration. Nanoclays as well as nanotubes have been used to prepare nanocomposites of ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) rubber. The work mostly covers the preparation and characterization of these nanocomposites. Different processing conditions, morphology, and mechanical properties have been smdied [61-64]. Acharya et al. [61] have prepared and characterized the EPDM-based organo-nanoclay composites by X-ray diffracto-gram (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy... 

Nanocomposite based on polyurethane (PU) is prepared using silica, clay, and Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane (POSS). Preparation, characterization, mechanical and barrier properties, morphology, and effect of processing conditions have been reported on polyurethane-based nanocomposites [72,73]. 

AFM is a state of the art technique for characterizing nanocomposites. Ganguly et al. [49] used AFM for qualitative phase morphological mapping as well as for quantitative investigation of surface forces at constituting blocks and clay regions... 

A characterization of copper/porous silicon (Cu/PS) nanocomposites fomied by an immersion displacement method is presented. Morphology and structural properties of Cu-PS samples were analyzed using SEM and XRD techniques. The SEM study demonstrates the complicated structure of the Cu/PS samples. The XRD study confirms that deposited Cu is polycrystalline. Copper deposition time has a strong influence on Cu crystal size and the Cu/PS composition. 

In this work, nanocomposite supports formed by nanometric domains of alumina dispersed on a-Al203 beads were synthesized by a modified incipient wetness impregnation method in order to improve specific surface area and surface reactivily of a-Al203 large porosity precursor. The obtained composites were characterized by conventional physical methods like N2 adsorption-desorption, mercury porosimetry, TEM and SEM, in order to describe the evolution of the composite textural properties with the impregnated phase morphology. 

The first report of TEMT on block copolymer nanostructures, by Spontak [164], appeared in 1988. This was followed by three morphological smdies carried out in the 1990s [165-167]. Only recently has TEMT become more popular in characterizing polymer nanostructures, including block copolymers [134, 164, 167-173], nanocomposites [174, 175], and polymer nanocomposites [176]. Kawase et al. [177] recently presented a protocol to perform complete rotation (i.e., 90°) on a Zr02/polymer nanocomposite, by which they achieved truly quantitative TEMT for the first time. 

For the comprehension of mechanisms involved in the appearance of novel properties in polymer-emhedded metal nanostructures, their characterization represents the fundamental starting point. The microstructural characterization of nanohllers and nanocomposite materials is performed mainly by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), large-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD), and optical spectroscopy (UV-Vis). These three techniques are very effective in determining particle morphology, crystal structure, composition, and particle size. 

Zhang JJ, Gao G, Zhang M, et al. (2006) ZnO/PS core-shell hybrid microspheres prepared with miniemulsion polymerization. J Colloid Interface Sci 301 78-84 Mahdavian A, Stirrafi Y, Shabankareh M (2009) Nanocomposite particles with core-shell morphology. 111. Preparation and characterization of nano Al203-poly(styrene-methyl methacrylate) ptirticles via miniemulsion polymerization. Polym Bull 63 329-340... 

Due to the positive influence of these nanofillers in the nanocomposites, an abundance of articles on different methods to quantify the influence of the nanofiller can be found in the literature. Many articles on assessing the clay dispersion in a polymer matrix by morphological and rheological studies have been published. Due to the relatively easy sample preparation and sample loading, rheology is often used to screen or characterize the nanofiller dispersion, or more generally determine the influence of the... 

Bartholome, C., Beyou, E., Bourgeat-Lami, E., Cassagnau, Ph., ChaumonL Ph., David, L., and Zydowicz, N., Viscoelastic properties and morphological characterization of sUica/polystyrene nanocomposites synthesized hy nitroxide-mediated polymerization. Polymer, 46,9965-9973 (2005). 

In this part, the composition of T-CN nanocomposites was determined by FT-IR. Morphology of the nanocomposites was characterized by using SEM and transmission scanning electron microscope [TEM, JEOL JEM-2000EX). The conductivities of the nanocomposite films were measured by the four-probe technique (GZFTL RST-8) at room temperature using a semiconductor device analyzer. 

A. Asefnejad, A. Behnamghader, M. Khorasani, B. Farsadzadeh, Polyurethane/fluor-hydroxyapatite nanocomposite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Part I morphological, physical, and mechanical characterization, Int. J. Nanomedicine 6 (2011) 93-100. 

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