Effect of multiwalled carbon nanotubes on crystallization behavior of poly(vinylidene fluoride) in different solvents

Abstract

AbstractIn this study, the poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)—multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) composites have been prepared by solution casting in two different solvents: dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and dimethylacetamide (DMAc). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) results showed that the crystal phases of PVDF are quite different in the two solvents. When DMSO is used as the solvent, the PVDF crystalline phases could be greatly alternated from α‐form to β‐form by the incorporation of MWNTs. While the crystalline structure of PVDF hardly change in the case of DMAc. The DSC and polarized optical microphotographs implied that MWNTs not only act as nucleating agents for PVDF but also confine the crystallization of PVDF. Besides, it was found that the storage modulus (E′) of the composites were significantly enhanced with an appropriate content of MWNTs. And when using DMSO as the solvent, one relaxation process emerges in the loss tan δ (loss factor) curves of the neat PVDF and PVDF/MWNTs composites, while it was not observed in the DMAc system. The obtained results revealed that varing solvents have different effects on the crystallization behavior of PVDF with the addition of MWNTs. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011