Abstract
Aluminum nanoparticles hold promise for highly energetic materials and sustainable surface plasmonic materials. Most of the commercial Al nanoparticles are prepared via a high-throughput electrical explosion of wires method (up to 200 g h−1). However, the use of Al nanoparticles produced by an electrical explosion of wires is limited by their micrometer-sized aggregations and poor stability. Here, we use polystyrene with –COOH end-group to graft onto isolated Al nanoparticles and dramatically enhance their colloidal stability in various organic solvents. We further demonstrate that the polystyrene grafted Al nanoparticles can be doped into polystyrene films with high compatibility, leading to enhanced dielectric properties, such as higher dielectric constant, lower dielectric loss, and stronger breakdown strength. Moreover, the composite film can improve the moisture resistance of embedded Al nanoparticles.
Highlights
Aluminum nanoparticles (Al NPs) have drawn considerable attention over the years as highly energetic materials and more recently for their applications as surface plasmonic materials [1,2,3].In comparison with Al micrometer-sized powders, Al NPs have larger surface area, which allows for shorter ignition times, lower ignition temperatures, and higher energy output [4,5,6,7]
Al NPs have recently been recognized as a promising candidate for sustainable surface plasmonic materials, due to their unique plasmonic properties in both UV and visible range and their greatly reduced cost compared with noble metal counterparts, i.e., Au and Ag [11,12,13,14,15]
The Al NPs prepared by electrical explosion of wires (EEW) possess a large surface energy, they are susceptible to forming micrometer-scale particle aggregations [17]
Summary
In comparison with Al micrometer-sized powders, Al NPs have larger surface area, which allows for shorter ignition times, lower ignition temperatures, and higher energy output [4,5,6,7]. Al NPs have recently been recognized as a promising candidate for sustainable surface plasmonic materials, due to their unique plasmonic properties in both UV and visible range and their greatly reduced cost compared with noble metal counterparts, i.e., Au and Ag [11,12,13,14,15]. The Al NPs prepared by EEW possess a large surface energy, they are susceptible to forming micrometer-scale particle aggregations [17]. The majority of the Al NP aggregations can reach up to tens of micrometers in size, which dramatically reduce their surface area, colloidal stability, and Polymers 2019, 11, 638; doi:10.3390/polym11040638 www.mdpi.com/journal/polymers
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