Abstract
In this study, a set of advanced characterization techniques were used to evaluate the morphological, structural, and thermal properties of a novel molecular hybrid based on silica nanoparticles/hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (CSNH-PC1), which was efficiently obtained using a two-step synthetic pathway. The morphology of the nanohybrid CSNH-PC1 was determined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and nanotracking analysis (NTA) techniques. The presence of C, N, O, and Si atoms in the nanohybrid structure was verified using electron dispersive scanning (EDS). Moreover, the corresponding structural analysis was complemented using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FT-IR). The covalent bond between APTES-functionalized SiO2 nanoparticles (nSiO2-APTES), and the hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) chain (MW ≈ 20.106 Da) was confirmed with high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy (XPS). Finally, the thermal properties of the nanohybrid were evaluated by using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results showed that the CSNH-PC1 has a spherical morphology, with sizes between 420–480 nm and higher thermal resistance compared to HPAM polymers without modification, with a glass transition temperature of 360 °C. The integration of these advanced characterization techniques implemented here shows promising results for the study and evaluation of new nanomaterials with multiple applications.
Highlights
Nanotechnology refers to the manipulation of matter at the nanoscale (1–100 nm) at the atomic, molecular, and supramolecular levels [1]
It is observed that the nSiO2 –APTES have a near-spherical morphology and size of 141 nm (Figure 2a–c)
The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images for the nanohybrid (Figure 2d–f) clearly show a well-formed structure; on its surface, the nanoparticles are attached to the polymer at specific sites, corresponding to the hybridization area of the polymer
Summary
Nanotechnology refers to the manipulation of matter at the nanoscale (1–100 nm) at the atomic, molecular, and supramolecular levels [1]. Materials at the nanoscale have shown significantly improved chemical, physical, and biological properties relative to the same materials at a larger scale [2]. Nanotechnology has an enormous impact in different fields and industries. Some of them are food and agricultural [3,4], oil and gas [2,5,6,7,8,9], paint and coating [10,11], construction [12], medicine [13], cosmetics [14], and wastewater treatment [15]. Nanotechnology in the upstream oil and gas industry has been used to improve the performance of fracturing fluids, improve cement properties, reduce the loss of drilling fluids and enhance wellbore stability, prevent scale deposition, and improve oil recovery. Boul & Ajayan (2020) [16] and Alsaba et al (2020) [17] present a detailed description of Polymers 2020, 12, 1152; doi:10.3390/polym12051152 www.mdpi.com/journal/polymers
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