Organically Modified Montmorillonite Research Articles

The Effect of Nanoclay Type on the Mechanical Properties and Antibacterial Activity of Chitosan/PVA Nanocomposite Films

Nanoclays are a class of nanomaterials extensively used to prepare polymer nanocomposites. In this study, four types of common nanoclays were selected to prepare chitosan–polyvinyl alcohol (CP) nanocomposite films. Montmorillonite cloisite Na+ (MMT), organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT), and bentonite (BNT), as layered aluminosilicates, and halloysite nanotubes (HNT), as a tubular nanoclay, were blended with CP films at concentrations of 1.5, 3 and 4.5%. The nanocomposite films were characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM/EDX, AFM, tensile strength, and antibacterial tests. SEM/EDX results showed a more uniform distribution of the OMMT and HNT nanoclays in the polymer matrix. AFM images showed a rougher surface for nanocomposite films compared to CP film. Increasing the nanoclay concentration in the films from 1.5 to 4.5% resulted in higher tensile strength for HNT and MMT while the trend was reversed for OMMT and BNT. Among the samples, nanocomposite films composed of OMMT and BNT showed the highest tensile strength at the lowest concentrations (CP-OMMT1.5 99 ± 3.7 MPa, CP-B1.5 81 ± 1.5 MPa). The nanocomposite films prepared from OMMT showed the highest antibacterial activity against E. coli and S. aureus with an inhibition zone of 15 and 19 mm, respectively. The results of this study showed that BNT and OMMT are promising nanoclays for enhancing the mechanical properties and antibacterial activity of hydrophilic polymers. The results of this research can provide new insights into selecting suitable nanoclays for different applications.

Research progress on the flame retardation and modification of polypropylene by montmorillonite

Montmorillonite can be used to achieve nano-dispersion level by forming peel or intercalation structure in polypropylene body, so as to improve the mechanical properties of the material. In addition, montmorillonite plays the role of nucleating agent during the crystallization of polypropylene, which improves the crystallization efficiency of polypropylene. After the organic modification of montmorillonite, the spacing between crystal surfaces can be enlarged to form organic montmorillonite, which makes the molecular chains of polypropylene more easily dispersed to the interlayer of organic montmorillonite, forming a dense surface layer in the process of thermal decomposition, so as to improve the thermal stability of polypropylene and enhance the flame retardant property of polypropylene. Many previous studies have shown that montmorillonite plays a significant role in improving the mechanical strength and crystallization effect of polypropylene, as well as the flame retardant properties of nanocomposites.

Mechanical and gas barrier properties of polyamides 6/ organically modified montmorillonite/ maleic anhydride grafted polyolefin elastomer composites produced by rotational molding

AbstractHigh‐strength and high‐gas‐barrier plastic packaging liners have emerged as competitive products with promising potential application in the field of Type IV hydrogen storage cylinders. Ternary composites, which contain PA6, organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT), and maleic anhydride grafted polyolefin elastomer (POE‐g‐MAH), have been proposed as possible material for this application. To achieve the goal of developing this material, the influence of material formulation on various properties such as mechanical, microstructure, gas barrier, thermal stability, and flow properties of the composites was investigated. The results show that the composites with 3 wt% OMMT had the best gas barrier and mechanical properties. Additionally, the effect of rotational molding process parameters on the wall thickness of the plastic liner was studied. Process parameter regulation methods were proposed to improve wall thickness consistency of the products. The investigation shows that the composites containing 3 wt% OMMT had the best wall thickness consistency of the products.Highlights The effect of filler content on the properties of PA6 composites was investigated. The composites with 3 wt% OMMT had the best wall thickness consistency. The gas barrier property of the composite is improved by 43.9% over virgin PA6. The impact strength of the composite is improved by 133.8% over virgin PA6. Insights for the development of processing methods for plastic packaging inserts.

High-strength montmorillonite polyurethane nanocomposites with exfoliated montmorillonite: Preparation and characterization

High-strength polyurethane (PU) nanocomposites were synthesized by incorporation of organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) in different proportions. Cation exchange for MMT was carried out using quaternary ammonium cation of 2,2-bis[4-(4-amino phenoxy)phenyl]propane to induce organophilic nature into the inorganic reinforcement. By in-situ polymerizing polyethylene glycol (PEG, MW 6000) and toluene 2,4 diisocyanate (TDI) at temperatures between 40 and 60 oC, PU/OMMT nanocomposite films were created. Thin nanocomposite films with 2, 4, 8, and 12 % clay content by weight were prepared and analyzed through FTIR, XRD, SEM, tensile testing and TGA. The incorporation of OMMT platelets into the polymer matrix was confirmed through functional group analysis by FTIR spectroscopy. XRD patterns confirmed the organ modification of clay platelets with increased interlayer spacing and homogeneous dispersion within the polymer matrix. SEM depicted fine dispersion with good adherence between both phases. With a higher clay content, the nanocomposites' mechanical strength and thermal stability were enhanced. Thermal decomposition temperature was enhanced from 342 for the neat polymer to 446 °C for 12 wt% of clay content.

Theoretical modeling of predicting elastic modulus of polyurethane copolymer/organic-montmorillonite nanocomposite

A structure of theoretical models set was suggested to predict the elastic moduli of polyurethane copolymer (PUC)/organic modified montmorillonite (OMMT) nanocomposites (NCs) in terms of length (L) to thickness (t) ratio and volume fraction ([Formula: see text]) of OMMT nanoparticles. The predicted elastic modulus outcomes of PUC/OMMT NCs were compared with experiment data. The outcome demonstrated that the suggested aspect ratio of predicted elastic modulus decreased with increased [Formula: see text] of OMMT compared to experimental data. The largest value of effective aspect ratio belonged to the Hui–Shia model over all OMMT [Formula: see text]. The modified Halpin–Tsai model incorporated with the factor for decreasing modulus (FFDM) recorded the lowest range of percentage error between theoretical and experimental data around 0.385–0.816% at [Formula: see text] (4[Formula: see text]wt.%) OMMT.

Shrinkage Reduction in Nanopore-Rich Cement Paste Based on Facile Organic Modification of Montmorillonite.

The organic modification of montmorillonite was successfully achieved using cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide under facile conditions. The modified montmorillonite was subsequently used for the fabrication of montmorillonite-induced nanopore-rich cement paste (MNCP), and the shrinkage behavior and fundamental performance of MNCP were also investigated. The results indicate that alkali cations on a montmorillonite layer surface were exchanged by using CTAB under 80 °C, successfully achieving the organic modification of montmorillonite. As a pore-forming agent, the modified montmorillonite caused a reduction in shrinkage: the 28-day autogenous shrinkage at a design density of 400 kg/m3 and 800 kg/m3 was reduced to 2.05 mm/m and 0.24 mm/m, and the highest reduction percentages during the 28-day drying shrinkage were 68.1% and 62.2%, respectively. The enlarged interlamellar pores and hydrophobic effects caused by the organic modification of montmorillonite aided this process. Organic-modified montmorillonite had a minor influence on dry density and thermal conductivity and could contribute to an enhancement of strength in MNCP.

Unravelling the thermal behavior and kinetics of unsaturated polyester resin supplemented with organo-nanoclay.

The integration of nanoclays within polymeric systems to develop high-performance materials is an emerging research field that has garnered significant attention. In this context, an organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) is utilized as a reinforcing agent for unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) with loads of 1%, 3%, and 5 wt%. The modification of montmorillonite nanoclay (MMT) using a quaternary ammonium compound is performed through an effective repetitive modification process under reflux conditions. The curing behavior of the unsaturated polyester resin containing organically modified clay catalyzed with methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP) initiator and promoted by cobalt naphthenate accelerator is investigated using dynamic differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) followed by kinetic analysis using isoconversional methods. The dynamic DSC curing curves showed a bimodal exothermic peak, where two independent reactions, namely, redox and thermal decomposition of the initiator occurred. In this study, novel insights into the curing reaction of the studied UPR and UPR/OMMT systems have been revealed through the application of the Trache-Abdelaziz-Siwani (TAS) and Sbirrazzuoli (VYA/CE) isoconversional methods. These methods have enabled the elucidation of the intricate mechanisms and phenomena that impact the curing reaction, including the dilution effect in the redox reaction and the diffusion phenomenon at the end of the thermal decomposition reaction. The incorporation of nanoclay into unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) resulted in a reduction in the activation energy for both the redox and thermal reactions. Specifically, the energetic barrier decreased from 93.85 and 101.58 kJ mol-1 for pristine UPR to 60.71 and 72.93 kJ mol-1 for UPR/OMMT-5 in the redox and thermal reactions, respectively. The addition of OMMT caused a significant decrease in the pre-exponential factor. The values of UPR/OMMT-5 were 2.75 × 105 and 5.50 × 106 for the redox and thermal decomposition reactions, respectively, compared to 1.41 × 1012 and 5.13 × 1013 for UPR. The thermogravimetric analysis demonstrated that UPR/OMMT systems were more stable than UPR.

Acoustic absorption of 3D printed glycol‐modified polyethylene terephthalate composites with organically modified montmorillonite and short carbon fibers: Experimentation and ANN based predictive strategy

AbstractIn this article, the acoustic properties of 3D printed glycol‐modified polyethylene terephthalate (PETG) reinforced with organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) nanoclay/short carbon fiber (SCF) nanocomposites are experimentally investigated using ASTM E1050‐08 standard. To this end, the sound absorption coefficient (SAC) of different PETG composites was calculated with the aid of two microphone impedance tube, working in the frequency range of 50–6300 Hz. The effect of different weight percentages (wt%) of OMMT nanoclay, SCFs, and 3D printing infill density on the acoustic behavior of PETG nanocomposites is studied. The experimental results reveal that higher wt% of OMMT nanoclay and SCFs has a beneficial effect on sound absorption. Further, the trend of variation of SAC is justified with morphological studies. Also, an artificial neural network (ANN) based prediction methodology to predict SAC is developed using the datasets obtained from the experimentation. Levenberg–Marquardt backward propagation algorithm with 20 neurons trains the ANN model. Using the trained ANN model, the acoustic properties of PETG/OMMT/SCF nanocomposites with different operating frequencies, infill density and wt% of reinforcements are predicted with less than 5% average error. This can be beneficial in eliminating the fabrication and experimentation costs incurred while assessing the acoustic properties of the PETG composites.Highlights PETG/OMMT nanoclay/SCF composite filaments are fabricated. Acoustic absorption of 3D printed PETG composites are experimentally studied. ANN based predictive tool is developed using experimental data. ANN tool predicts the sound absorption and reduces experimentation cost. Microstructural studies justify the trend of sound absorption.

Recycling polycarbonate wastes to prepare hydrophobic and super mechanically robust aerogels with excellent oil–water and emulsion separation performance

With the development of our society, plastic pollution is becoming more and more prominent. It is attractive and challenging to recycle plastic wastes to prepare valuable products at low cost. In this study, we report a unique strategy to obtain hydrophobic and super robust aerogels from polycarbonate wastes: (1) 4,4-diaminodibenzomethane is used to decompose polycarbonate (PC) waste, (2) the degradation product is compounded with organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) to gel up through sol–gel transition, (3) solvent exchange and ambient-drying are performed to obtain the final aerogel samples. The addition of OMMT not only promotes the ring opening of the oxazine rings in the polymer matrix and the gelation rate of the system, but also strengthen the prepared aerogels due to the formation of stronger honeycomb network structure as a result of hydrogen bonding between OMMT and polymer matrix. The resulting aerogels can withstand up to 46,000 times its own weight and exhibits superb hydrophobic properties with contact angle up to 146.2°, as well as being suitable for use in a wide range of pH values. Besides, the aerogels possess good capacity for continuous oil–water separation, whose oil absorption performance does not deteriorate perceptibly after 50 cycles of oil absorption and degreasing. The aerogel obtained by this simple method not only has superb mechanical properties, hydrophobic properties, and oil–water emulsion separation, but also has many potential industrial applications and, most importantly, solves the waste disposal dilemma.

Growing of 2D/3D graphene structures on natural substrates from aromatic plastic wastes by scalable thermal-based upcycling process with a comparative CO2 footprint analysis

Recycling aromatic plastics, such as polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), is complex and strongly sensitive to the process design and conditions due to the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and interunit CO and/or CC linkages. Herein, the upcycling process becomes crucial to attain high-value-added products from aromatic plastics. With this study, graphene growth was achieved on the natural substrates of talc and organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT), from waste PS and PET sources via a sustainable, affordable, and environment-friendly upcycling technique. This promising method promotes the formation of 2D and 3D graphene structures from waste PS and PET. This provides dimension-controlled graphene growth by tailoring the substrate type and size, surface composition of the substrate, and the degree of aromaticity in the polymer. In addition, polymer processing techniques of twin-screw extrusion and thermokinetic mixing, were investigated in the development of graphene-grown hybrid additives to tailor the degree of crystallinity. Regarding structural characterization results, a high shear rate mixer led to the change in crystalline planes of talc, whereas conventional twin screw extrusion preserved the structure of talc indicating that high shear rate triggered the exfoliation of talc. Furthermore, a systematic life cycle assessment was conducted to evaluate the CO2 footprint of upcycled graphenes grown on talc and OMMT compared to graphene produced from graphite. Upcycled graphene structures obtained by direct carbonization and even catalyst impregnated natural substrate-based graphene growth process with PS or PET source have comparably lower CO2 emission than graphene received from graphite. Therefore, these newly developed and upcycled hybrid additives opens a way for the conversion of aromatic complex plastic wastes into value-added nanomaterials being candidate as reinforcing agent by adopting a circular economy model.

A novel mechanism of hybrid fillers on enhanced dielectric constant and suppressed dielectric loss in percolative nanocomposites

Flexible dielectric materials with high dielectric constant (εr) and low loss (tan δ) are constantly pursued. Polymer composites filled with conductive fillers has been demonstrated ultrahigh effective dielectric constant near percolation, yet usually accompanied with high tan δ due to the formation of conductive pathway. Here, two-dimensional organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) was introduced into the poly(vinylidene fluoride)/carbon tubes (2.0 wt %) (PVDF/CNTs) nanocomposites to block the formation of CNTs conductive pathway. The results indicate that preventing the formation of 3D conductive network over long-range distance and allowing electrons to travel freely within CNTs clusters in short-range distance is the key to enormously suppress the loss without sacrificing high dielectric constant in percolative nanocomposites. The PVDF/CNTs nanocomposites loaded 4.0 wt% OMMT is reduced by 96.2% in tan δ as well as increased by 22.7% in εr at 1000 Hz, compared to the nanocomposites without OMMT. This will provide a design principle for desired-dielectric material.

A study on nitrile rubber/polyvinyl chloride blend vulcanization kinetics with different fillers by using single isothermal rheograph

An attempt has been made to establish a reasonably accurate microkinetics model for accelerated sulfur vulcanization of commonly used acrylonitrile rubber/polyvinyl chloride (NBR/PVC 70/30) blend (NVC73) from a single, isothermal rheograph data of torque versus time. The effect of three different types of fillers, such as pre-exfoliated organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) clay, graphite (GRT) powder, and high abrasion furnace (HAF) carbon black (CB), were studied. The kinetics study was done with six solid-state reaction kinetics models. Among these, Sestak-Berggren (SB) equation was found to be the best model for the present compositions. The SB kinetic rate expressions were evolved after several iterations using empirical values of autocatalytic and non-autocatalytic orders of ‘ m’ and ‘ n’, respectively. The gum vulcanizate and OMMT clay-loaded compositions were found to have comparable conversion function f (α) and almost identical reaction rate constants at 150°C, under isothermal conditions. In comparison, HAF CB and GRT rate expressions differed from clay-loaded compositions. The validity of the reaction rate equations obtained was confirmed by comparison of plots for experimental and derived conversions with time.

Dry-sliding wear properties of 3D printed PETG/SCF/OMMT nanocomposites: Experimentation and model predictions using artificial neural network

In this article, an attempt has been made to experimentally investigate the synergistic effect of organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) nanoclay and short carbon fibers (SCFs) on the tribological behaviour of additively manufactured Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol (PETG) based nanocomposites. The tribo-specimens are 3D printed using fused deposition modelling (FDM). The tribological properties, that is, specific wear rate (SWR) and coefficient of friction (CoF) of various PETG/SCF/OMMT nanocomposites were assessed by performing dry-sliding wear test. In addition, an artificial neural network (ANN) methodology is proposed to accurately predict the wear performance of PETG nanocomposites. The ANN model is trained using the datasets obtained from the experimentation. For the training of the ANN model, the Levenberg–Marquardt optimisation algorithm with 10 neurons along with a tangent sigmoid activation function is utilised. Additional experimentation was performed for arbitrary load and sliding velocity which were not used for training the ANN model and the results were compared to assess the predictive capability of the ANN model on unseen data. The proposed ANN methodology predicted the SWR and CoF with agreeable accuracy. It is believed that by adopting the proposed ANN methodology, the experimentation costs and time can be significantly reduced without compromising on the accuracy of the results.

In Situ Construction Channels of Lithium-Ion Fast Transport and Uniform Deposition to Ensure Safe High-Performance Solid Batteries.

Solid-state lithium-ion batteries (SLIBs) are the promising development direction for future power sources because of their high energy density and reliable safety. To optimize the ionic conductivity at room temperature (RT) and charge/discharge performance to obtain reusable polymer electrolytes (PEs), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), and poly(vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoro propylene) (P(VDF-HFP)) copolymer combined with polymerized methylmethacrylate (MMA) monomers are used as substrates to prepare PE (LiTFSI/OMMT/PVDF/P(VDF-HFP)/PMMA [LOPPM]). LOPPM has interconnected lithium-ion 3D network channels. The organic-modified montmorillonite (OMMT) is rich in the Lewis acid centers, which promoted lithium salt dissociation. LOPPM PE possessed high ionic conductivity of 1.1 × 10-3 S cm-1 and a lithium-ion transference number of 0.54. The capacity retention of the battery remained 100% after 100 cycles at RT and 0.5 C. The initial capacity of one with the second-recycled LOPPM PE is 123.9 mAh g-1 . This work offered a feasible pathway for developing high-performance and reusable LIBs.

Artificial neural network coupled experimental investigation of tribological behavior of additive manufactured PETG/OMMT nanocomposites

AbstractThe advent of additive manufacturing has brought a paradigm shift in many engineering applications involving polymer composites. The current study aims at integrating artificial neural network (ANN) with experimentation to assess the wear properties of glycol‐modified polyethylene terephthalate (PETG) composites reinforced with organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) nanoclay (1%, 3%, and 5% weight percentages). The specimens are fabricated using fused deposition modeling technology. The proposed composites are compounded and developed using a single screw extruder with a diameter of 1.75 mm. As per ASTM G99 standard, the tribological characteristics were investigated using sliding wear with the dry pin on disc arrangement. The data points owing to the wear properties of PETG/OMMT nanocomposites are collected with the aid of the experimentation, which is then used to train the ANN model using Levenberg– Marquardt backward propagation algorithm. The experimental results show that adding OMMT nanoclay at a 3% weight percentage improves the wear properties of the composites compared to virgin PETG. A scanning electron microscope study of the wear mechanism reveals that adding OMMT nanoclay to the proposed composites results in mild wear as opposed to heavy wear in the case of virgin PETG. The ANN model developed to predict the tribological performance of PETG/OMMT facilitates better predictability with 99.6% accuracy, thereby reducing the requirement of expensive experimentation and analysis. The proposed composites may be applicable in the prosthetic, aerospace and automobile industries.

ANN based prediction of the absorption characteristics of additive manufactured glycol‐modified polyethylene terephthalate nanocomposites reinforced with short‐carbon fibers and nanoclay fillers

AbstractIn this research work, an artificial neural network (ANN) based data driven prediction technique is proposed to evaluate the absorption characteristics of glycol‐modified polyethylene terephthalate (PETG) polymer nanocomposites reinforced with short carbon fibers (SCFs) and organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) nanoclay (NC) fillers. The specimens are fabricated through additive manufacturing routine. The data points owing to the absorption of PETG nanocomposites are collected with the aid of the experimentation, which are then used to train the ANN model using Levenberg–Marquardt backward propagation algorithm. Different variants of PETG nanocomposites are prepared using various weight percentages of NC (1%, 3%, and 5%) and SCFs (5%, 10%, and 15%). The required filaments were prepared with the aid of compounding and extrusion processes. The specimens were printed using the fused deposition modeling technique. Further, the absorption behavior of these nanocomposites when exposed to distilled water, salt solution, and sugar solution has been experimentally studied following the ASTM D570 standard. The individual and combined effects of reinforcing OMMT‐NC and SCFs in the PETG matrix are also studied. The experimental results suggest that the absorption characteristics of PETG nanocomposites are significantly affected by the NC and SCFs reinforcements. The outcomes of this work will aid the design/material engineers in making a good trade‐off between the mechanical and absorption properties of the proposed PETG nanocomposites.

Effects of Ammonium Polyphosphate and Organic Modified Montmorillonite on Flame Retardancy of Polyethylene Glycol/Wood-Flour-Based Phase Change Composites.

With the depletion of fossil fuel energy and both the slow development and low utilization rate of new eco-friendly energy, finding new ways to efficiently store energy has become a research hotspot. Presently, polyethylene glycol (PEG) is an excellent heat storage material, but it is a typical solid-liquid phase change material (PCM) with a risk of leakage during phase transition. A combination of wood flour (WF) and PEG can effectively eliminate the risk of leakage after the melting of PEG. However, WF and PEG are both flammable materials, which impedes their application. Therefore, it is of great significance to expand their application by forming composites from among PEG, supporting mediums, and flame-retardant additives. This will improve both their flame retardancy and phase change energy storage performance, and will also lead to the preparation of excellent flame-retardant phase change composite materials with solid-solid phase change characteristics. To address this issue, ammonium polyphosphate (APP), organic modified montmorillonite (OMMT), and WF were blended into PEG in specific proportions to prepare a series of PEG/WF-based composites. Both thermal cycling tests and thermogravimetric analysis results demonstrated that the as-prepared composites had good thermal reliability and chemical stability. In addition, during differential scanning calorimetry tests, the PEG/WF/8.0APP@2.0OMMT composite presented the highest melting latent heat (176.6 J/g), and its enthalpy efficiency reached more than 98.3%. The PEG/WF/8.0APP@2.0OMMT composite also exhibited superior thermal insulation performance when compared to the pure PEG/WF composite. Furthermore, the PEG/WF/8.0APP@2.0OMMT composite exhibited a significant 50% reduction in peak heat release rate as a result of the synergistic effect between OMMT and APP in the gas and condensed phases. This work offers a useful strategy for the fabrication of multifunctional phase-change material, which is expected to broaden its industrial applications.

Effects of organically-modified montmorillonite and alkalinization on physical, mechanical, chemical, morphological, and thermal properties of wheat straw/recycled polypropylene nanocomposites

Valorization of wheat straw fiber/recycled polypropylene nanocomposites was investigated through studying the individual and combined effects of organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) and alkali treatments on the given composites. FTIR spectra indicated the reduction of wheat straw fibers' hydroxyl groups due to hemicellulose removal resulting from alkali treatment. There were also trace diminutions in C-O peak intensities due to the degradation of little amounts of lignin. X-ray analysis revealed the intercalation of nanoclay in the polymer matrix. The improved interaction of fiber-polymer interfaces brought about by alkali treatment was also confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. The water absorption and thickness swelling properties of the nanocomposites were improved due to the barrier properties of nanoclay against water ingress. The flexural strength and modulus of elasticity increased by the individual, and likewise combined treatments. Thermogravimetric analysis demonstrated that the temperatures of first and second stages of composites' thermal degradation increased via the formation of a carbonized char layer thermally insulating the deeper composite layers. Differential scanning calorimetry showed some slight increases in the melting temperature, melting enthalpy, crystallisation temperature, crystallisation enthalpy, and crystallinity index of the treated composites due to the nucleating effect of nanofillers. The overall results showed that the combined treatment of OMMT and NaOH (vs. the individual ones) could significantly improve the overall properties of the studied composites. This was due to some interesting synergistic effects of the given treatments converting the wheat straw fiber/recycled polypropylene nanocomposites to high performance materials of choice for industry.

A Charge Equalizer in Accordion—MXene‐Modified Layer Leading to Spherical Lithium Deposition

Lithium‐ion batteries with polymer electrolytes (PEs) are promising candidates for high safety performance batteries. However, conventional PEs suffer from poor compatibility and high impedance of electrolyte–electrode interfaces. Herein, we present a method of the interfacial modification for PEs to inhibit lithium dendrites based on the solution to the interfacial compatibility. Our strategy is to improve the interfacial properties and inhibit the dendrite generation by coating a modified layer on PEs of the anode side with acetylene black (AB) and MXene. The mixed conductive layer (MCL) can promote the generation of Li3N and LiF with a uniform arrangement of electrons to form a dense solid electrolyte interphase layer and the even lithium‐ion deposition for improving the performance and stability of the battery during cycling. After adding the MCL, the discharge capacity of solid lithium‐ion batteries (SLIBs) with lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI)/organic modified montmorillonite (OMMT)/soybean isolate protein (SPI)/poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) (LOSP) PE from 74.2 mAh g−1 up to 111.1 mAh g−1 (AB‐LiTFSI/OMMT/SPI/PVDF (AB‐LOSP)) and 111.6 mAh g−1 (AB/MXene‐LiTFSI/OMMT/SPI/PVDF (AB/MXene‐LOSP)). The polarization voltage dropped by 0.06 and 0.12 V, respectively. This work represents a milestone in the dendrite‐free SLIBs with good performances.

Effect of molding on the structure and properties of poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)/poly(propylene carbonate)/organically modified montmorillonite nanocomposites

As an environmentally friendly biodegradable material, poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) has been commercialized as a shopping bag, but its high gas permeability weaken its practicability in mulch, cling film and other fields. Two kinds of barrier materials, poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) and organically modified montmorillonite (OMt), are used to prepare PBAT/PPC/OMt composites, and the mechanical properties are improved by chain extender (Joncryl® ADR 4468). The dispersion and arrangement of nanomaterials in blends are studied with different molding methods and their effects on the gas barrier and mechanical properties are studied as well. Dissipative particle dynamics are used to simulate the rate at which O2 molecules pass through the modified PBAT films. The results show that 1 wt% of chain extender can increase the tensile stress and tear strength by about 10% and 15%, respectively. The OMt is preferentially distributed in the PBAT matrix and has a more uniform degree of orientation in the blown film, which is beneficial to the improvement of gas barrier properties. Eventually, the mechanical properties and gas permeability of PBAT films can be regulated through the adjustment of processing methods and the synergistic effect of PPC and OMt, providing a new way for high-performance packaging or agricultural mulching film materials.