Thermal and thermo‐oxidative stability of thermoplastic polymer nanocomposites with arylated [60]fullerene derivatives

Abstract

Nanocomposite films of polystyrene (PS) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) were prepared by loading four variations of fullerenes such as pristine C 60 , multiarylated [60]fullerenes with tolyl (tolyl-C 60 ) and phenol groups (phenol-C 60 ), and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). The TGA analysis showed no appreciable change in their thermal and thermooxidative stabilities for PS/tolyl-C 60 and PS/phenol-C 60 films, but significant improvement up to 145 C for PS/ C 60 and PS/PCBM films even under air. The thermooxidative stability of PMMA/phenol-C 60 and PMMA/ PCBM, however, exhibited slightly larger improvements over that of PMMA/C 60 . We believe that the radicalscavenging ability of p-conjugative fullerenes and the dispersibility of fullerene-polymer combinations play key roles in these enhancements. We also found that optimal loading occurred at a relatively low content of fullerenes (0.4-0.8 wt%) probably because larger amounts may interfere with the morphological interaction of polymer chains which is essential for the thermal persistency of polymer. POLYM. COMPOS., 37:1143-1151, 2016. V C 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers EXPERIMENTAL Materials and Measurements C 60 and PCBM were purchased from Frontier Carbon Corporation. Two multiarylated [60]fullerenes were synthesized

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