The thermal, optical, flame retardant, and morphological consequence of embedding diacid‐capped ZnO into the recycled PET matrix

Abstract

We extended our work to a fast and facile nanocomposites (NCs) manufacturing by incorporation of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) on to a recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate) PET as a polymer matrix prepared by a dissolution/reprecipitation method. The surface of ZnO NPs was functionalized with synthesized optically active diacid containing alanine amino acid. Organo-modified NPs which provided using solution blending technique through ultrasonic irradiation, were embedded into recycled PET. PET@ZnO/DA NCs containing different loadings of functionalized NPs (1, 3, 5 wt %) were investigated by thermal gravimetric analysis, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and UV-visible spectroscopy. Morphological studies revealed uniformly dispersed ZnO/DA NPs in the polymer matrix. The crystalline nature of PET slightly improved as a function of the NPs concentration. Char yield in TGA and LOI values indicated that the obtained NCs were capable of exhibiting flame retardant properties. The NCs were found to exhibit more absorbance in the UV and visible region in compare to the neat PET. The effect of ultrasonication in different solvent on the morphology of the recycled polymer particle was also studied.

Production of polyvinylpyrrolidone/chiral diacid modified nanocrystalline Mg‐substituted fluorapatite nanocomposites: Morphological and thermal characterization

“…Within the last 15 years, the materials exhibiting geometric dimensions under 100 nm have gained increasingly attraction to the scientific world and motivated spirit of research on occasionally serious products for consumer as well as on fancy notions for future applications like molecular manufacturing or space elevators . Nanocomposites (NC)s including polymeric and inorganic constituents have been attracting considerable attention as novel materials because they have new properties and numerous potential applications, defined by the nature of both macromolecules and inorganic parts …”