The search for new materials with interesting and useful properties is always in the interest of mankind. In the last few decades, both nanoparticles themselves and polymer nanocomposites with embedded nanoparticles have been the focus of research.
In this work, I produced and characterized a nanocomposite consisting of PVP and PVDF-HFP polymers and MoO$_3$ nanowires.
To make MoO$_3$ nanowires, I first synthesized Mo$_6$S$_2$I$_8$ nanowires via a chemical transport reaction and then oxidized them, while PVDF-HFP and PVP polymers were purchased. To make the nanocomposite, I separately dissolved the PVDF-HFP and PVP polymers in DMF, then added MoO$_3$ nanowires to the PVP solution and the two solutions together. I then prepared thin films from this solution using casting and nanofibers using electrospinning.
For characterization, I used SEM, with which I saw that aggregates consisting of MoO$_3$ and PVP are formed in the films and fibers, and that the nanofibers are about 150 nm thick, which I also confirmed with AFM. With the use of AFM I also noticed that the aggregates on the films are about 60 nm high. With Raman spectroscopy, a new bond at 959 cm$^{-1}$ was found in the films, which represents a new O=Mo=O bond, which I did not notice in the nanofibers. As a result, MoO$_3$ is not well bonded to the polymer, which led to difficulties of creating nanofibers via electrospinning. To measure the mechanical properties, I used DMA, where I noticed that the film has a Young's modulus an order of magnitude higher than the fibers, since they are much more porous, but I did not get good quantitative data, since electrospinning in large quantities was difficult. In the end, by measuring the pH value, I saw that the nanofibers dissolve about twice as fast as the films.
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