AUTHOR=Dong Congcong , Guo Peng , Yuan Yue , Sun Changmei , Qu Rongjun , Ji Chunnuan , Zhang Ying , Wang Ying 

TITLE=Aramid Nanomaterials of Various Morphologies: Preparation and Mechanical Property Enhancement

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=7

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2019.00939

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2019.00939

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=<p>Aramid nanofibers (ANFs) are a novel type of promising nanoscale building blocks for high-performance nanocomposites. Conventionally, ANFs are used to composite with polymers containing polar groups such as –OH and –NH<sub>2</sub> since those polymers can interact with the amide groups in ANFs through polar-polar interaction such as hydrogen bonding. In this study, ANFs were derivatized with non-polar alkyl groups including ethyl, octyl and dodecyl groups and used as a performance-enhancing additive to polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with weak polarity. Interestingly, it was observed that the morphologies of the resulting alkyl-derivatized aramid nanomaterials (R-ANMs) varied significantly including nanofibers, nanobranches, nanosheets, and nanospheres, all of which depended on the degree of substitution (<italic>DS</italic>) and the chain length of the alkyl group. As an additive, R-ANMs improved the Young's modulus, toughness and yield strength of the PVC films. This study proves the concept that ANFs can be used to composite weakly polar or non-polar polymers.</p>