Novel non-exfoliated clay-nanocomposite materials byin situco-polymerisation of intercalated monomers: a combinatorial discovery approach

Combined experimental and theoretical investigations of clay–polymer nanocomposites: intercalation of single bifunctional organic compounds in Na+-montmorillonite and Na+-hectorite clays for the design of new materials

“…We can therefore assume that during the process of intercalation, the monomers unfold first and then diffuse into the interlayer space, presumably by a process akin to reptation. This behaviour has already been highlighted in previous studies 36,37 and contradicts earlier claims that these compounds enter the interlayer space in helical conformations, providing cylindrical channels. 23,24 In Table 4, we also present the adsorption energies of the intercalants.…”

“…30,31 Various force fields have been developed for these studies. [32][33][34][35] The purpose of the present paper is to report on extensions and developments of the work initiated by some of us, 37 envisaging a new approach to obtain nanocomposites from in situ copolymerisation of monomers using unmodified clays, that is, with minimal or no sample preparation. We have shown that the clay acts as a catalyst under mild conditions (room temperature, atmospheric pressure and neutral conditions), as no polymerisation occurs, in general, in the absence of clay.…”

“…Indeed, these materials have been shown to have interesting mechanical properties, depending on their constituents (flexibility or brittleness, hardness or softness). 37 The composite materials that we have studied here are composed of a variety of end-modified short chain poly-(alkylene oxides) with low molecular weights, ranging from 200 to 500 g mol 21 (2 to 9 repeat units), and two smectite clays, specifically, hectorite and montmorillonite. Attempts to obtain nanocomposite materials based on untreated attapulgite and kaolinite produced no intercalation.…”

“…This work is intended to be a more systematic and focused development of our original study. 37 In the present paper, we restrict our attention to single bifunctional compound intercalation only. The remainder of the paper is organised as follows: section 2 describes our experimental and theoretical methods, section 3 reports on the results we have obtained, and section 4 draws some conclusions from this work.…”

Morphology and elastic modulus of novel poly[oligo(ethylene glycol) diacrylate]‐montmorillonite nanocomposites

“…Such nanocomposites can be prepared either by directly inserting polymer molecules into clay galleries from solution or from the melt, or by inserting monomers, which are then polymerized in the clay galleries. This work uses the latter method, designated intercalation followed by in situ polymerization, which can result in either nonexfoliated materials or in exfoliation,14–21 depending upon the type of monomer being intercalated prior to polymerization and the types of clay cations and surfactants 22…”