Functionalization of MXene Nanosheets for Polystyrene towards High Thermal Stability and Flame Retardant Properties

• Published in: Polymers Vol. 11; no. 6; p. 976
• Main Authors: Si, Jing-Yu, Tawiah, Benjamin, Sun, Wei-Long, Lin, Bo, Wang, Cheng, Yuen, Anthony Chun Yin, Yu, Bin, Li, Ao, Yang, Wei, Lu, Hong-Dian, Chan, Qing Nian, Yeoh, Guan Heng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 03.06.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Adhesive strength; Cations; Cone calorimeters; Dimethylformamide; Dispersion; flame retardant; Flame retardants; Fourier transforms; functionalization; Heat; Heat release rate; Hydrochloric acid; Interface stability; MXene; MXenes; Nanocomposites; Nanomaterials; Nanosheets; Nitrogen; Polymers; polystyrene; Polystyrene resins; Polyvinyl alcohol; Pyrolysis; Scanning electron microscopy; Tensile strength; Thermal stability; Thermogravimetric analysis; Weight loss; United States > US; China; Japan; functionalization; thermal stability; flame retardant; polystyrene; MXene
• ISSN: 2073-4360; 2073-4360
• DOI: 10.3390/polym11060976

Fabricating high-performance MXene-based polymer nanocomposites is a huge challenge because of the poor dispersion and interfacial interaction of MXene nanosheets in the polymer matrix. To address the issue, MXene nanosheets were successfully exfoliated and subsequently modified by long-chain cationic agents with different chain lengths, i.e., decyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB), octadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (OTAB), and dihexadecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB). With the long-chain groups on their surface, modified Ti C (MXene) nanosheets were well dispersed in , -dimethylformamide (DMF), resulting in the formation of uniform dispersion and strong interfacial adhesion within a polystyrene (PS) matrix. The thermal stability properties of cationic modified Ti C /PS nanocomposites were improved considerably with the temperatures at 5% weight loss increasing by 20 °C for DTAB-Ti C /PS, 25 °C for OTAB-Ti C /PS and 23 °C for DDAB-Ti C /PS, respectively. The modified MXene nanosheets also enhanced the flame-retardant properties of PS. Compared to neat PS, the peak heat release rate (PHRR) was reduced by approximately 26.4%, 21.5% and 20.8% for PS/OTAB-Ti C , PS/DDAB-Ti C and PS/DTAB-Ti C , respectively. Significant reductions in CO and CO productions were also obtained in the cone calorimeter test and generally lower pyrolysis volatile products were recorded by PS/OTAB-Ti C compared to pristine PS. These property enhancements of PS nanocomposites are attributed to the superior dispersion, catalytic and barrier effects of Ti C nanosheets.