TY - JOUR

T1 - Structure of composite based on polyheteroarylene matrix and ZrO2 nanostars investigated by quantitative nanomechanical mapping

AU - Sokolova, Maria P.

AU - Smirnov, Michael A.

AU - Bugrov, Alexander N.

AU - Geydt, Pavel

AU - Popova, Elena N.

AU - Lahderanta, Erkki

AU - Svetlichnyi, Valentin M.

AU - Toikka, Alexander M.

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), grant 16-13-10164: Maria Sokolova, Michael Smirnov, and Alexander Toikka acknowledge the RSF for support in the synthesis of membranes, studies of their structural characteristics and analysis of results. Alexander Bugrov acknowledges St. Petersburg State University for the postdoctoral fellowship (grant 12.50.23.2014). Valentin Svetlichnyi and Elena Popova acknowledge RFBR (17-03-00733 a). The experimental work was facilitated by the equipment of the Resource Center of X-ray Diffraction Studies, Nanotechnology Interdisciplinary Resource Center, and of Thermogravimetric and Calorimetric Resource Centre at St. Petersburg State University. Authors are grateful to Elena N. Vlasova from Institute of Macromolecular Compounds RAS for the study of samples obtained in this article by the FT-IR spectroscopy. Publisher Copyright: © 2017 by the authors. Copyright: Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2017/7/6

Y1 - 2017/7/6

N2 - It is known that structure of the interface between inorganic nanoparticles and polymers significantly influences properties of a polymer-inorganic composite. At the same time, amount of experimental researches on the structure and properties of material near the inorganic-polymer interface is low. In this work, we report for the first time the investigation of nanomechanical properties and maps of adhesion of material near the inorganic-polymer interface for the polyheteroarylene nanocomposites based on semi-crystalline poly[4,40-bis (4"-aminophenoxy)diphenyl]imide 1,3-bis (30,4-dicarboxyphenoxy) benzene, modified by ZrO2 nanostars. Experiments were conducted using quantitative nanomechanical mapping (QNM) mode of atomic force microscopy (AFM) at the surface areas where holes were formed after falling out of inorganic particles. It was found that adhesion of AFM cantilever to the polymer surface is higher inside the hole than outside. This can be attributed to the presence of polar groups near ZrO2 nanoparticle. QNM measurements revealed that polymer matrix has increased rigidity in the vicinity of the nanoparticles. Influence of ZrO2 nanoparticles on the structure and thermal properties of semi-crystalline polyheteroarylene matrix was studied with wide-angle X-ray scattering, scanning electron microscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry.

AB - It is known that structure of the interface between inorganic nanoparticles and polymers significantly influences properties of a polymer-inorganic composite. At the same time, amount of experimental researches on the structure and properties of material near the inorganic-polymer interface is low. In this work, we report for the first time the investigation of nanomechanical properties and maps of adhesion of material near the inorganic-polymer interface for the polyheteroarylene nanocomposites based on semi-crystalline poly[4,40-bis (4"-aminophenoxy)diphenyl]imide 1,3-bis (30,4-dicarboxyphenoxy) benzene, modified by ZrO2 nanostars. Experiments were conducted using quantitative nanomechanical mapping (QNM) mode of atomic force microscopy (AFM) at the surface areas where holes were formed after falling out of inorganic particles. It was found that adhesion of AFM cantilever to the polymer surface is higher inside the hole than outside. This can be attributed to the presence of polar groups near ZrO2 nanoparticle. QNM measurements revealed that polymer matrix has increased rigidity in the vicinity of the nanoparticles. Influence of ZrO2 nanoparticles on the structure and thermal properties of semi-crystalline polyheteroarylene matrix was studied with wide-angle X-ray scattering, scanning electron microscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry.

KW - Nanocomposite

KW - Polyheteroarylene

KW - Polymer structure

KW - Quantitative nanomechanical mapping

KW - Zirconia

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85021865364&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - doi:10.3390/polym9070268

DO - doi:10.3390/polym9070268

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85021865364

VL - 9

JO - Polymers

JF - Polymers

SN - 2073-4360

IS - 7

M1 - 268

ER -