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Tuning a hydrophilic nanobelt’s crystal lattice for interface-tailored nanocompositing with a hydrophobic polymer

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Abstract

Nanoblending hydrophilic nanofillers thoroughly into hydrophobic polymer matrices has long been challenging, especially if involving no pre-functionalization on a 1D ceramic nanomaterial. Here we report a facile approach to fine-tuning of sodium titanate (Na2Ti3O7) nanobelt’s (NB) surface chemistry widely by exchanging the NB’s crystal lattice cations, for successfully nanoblending the low-cost and versatile NBs into the poly(vinyl benzyl chloride) or p(VBC) and the sulfonated form of pVBC’s [or sp(VBC)] matrixes. For the first time, the adjustable nanocompositing showed a long-sought workability in not only in situ radical polymerization of VBC monomer but also ex situ nanoblending of the p(VBC), with the NBs. The resultant nanocomposites possess an unusual surface versatility that can be tailored from being hydrophilic to being hydrophobic by design. This method concludes a generalized and industry-viable approach to mass-producing nanocomposites of many types facilely at low-cost, especially for large scale industries such as packaging materials.

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Acknowledegments

The authors acknowledge the generous help from Mr. S. Michel at the Leibintz-institute for polymer research-Dresden-Germany on the contact angle measurements, and that from Prof. M. Macintosh’s lab at the University of Arkansas on the polymer synthesis. This work was partially supported by the Science and Technology Development Fund (STDF) (Project No. 1908), the US-Egypt Joint Research Grant, and the NSF-MRSEC and NSF-EPSCOR.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Packaging and Packing Materials Department, Center of Excellence for Advanced Science, Renewable Energy Group, National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt

    A. F. Ghanem & M. H. Abdel Rehim

  2. Chemistry/Biochemistry Department, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA

    R. L. Williams & Z. Ryan Tian

  3. Institute of Nanoscience/Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA

    R. L. Williams & Z. Ryan Tian

Authors
  1. A. F. Ghanem
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  2. R. L. Williams
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  3. M. H. Abdel Rehim
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  4. Z. Ryan Tian
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. H. Abdel Rehim.

Additional information

A. F. Ghanem and R. L. Williams contributed equally to this work.

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Ghanem, A.F., Williams, R.L., Abdel Rehim, M.H. et al. Tuning a hydrophilic nanobelt’s crystal lattice for interface-tailored nanocompositing with a hydrophobic polymer. J Mater Sci 49, 7382–7390 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-014-8394-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-014-8394-x

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