Aramid Nanofiber Templated In Situ SNAr Polymerization for Maximizing the Performance of All-Organic Nanocomposites

Seul-A Park; Youngho Eom; Hyeonyeol Jeon; Jun Mo Koo; Taehyung Kim; Jaemin Jeon; Moon Jeong Park; Sung Yeon Hwang; Byeong-Su Kim; Dongyeop X Oh; Jeyoung Park

doi:10.1021/acsmacrolett.0c00156

Aramid Nanofiber Templated In Situ S_NAr Polymerization for Maximizing the Performance of All-Organic Nanocomposites

ACS Macro Lett. 2020 Apr 21;9(4):558-564. doi: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.0c00156. Epub 2020 Mar 26.

Authors

Seul-A Park¹, Youngho Eom^{1

2}, Hyeonyeol Jeon¹, Jun Mo Koo¹, Taehyung Kim^{3

4}, Jaemin Jeon⁵, Moon Jeong Park⁵, Sung Yeon Hwang^{1

6}, Byeong-Su Kim³, Dongyeop X Oh^{1

6}, Jeyoung Park^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ Research Center for Bio-based Chemistry, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Ulsan 44429, Republic of Korea.
² Department of Polymer Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan 48513, Republic of Korea.
³ Department of Chemistry, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea.
⁴ Department of Energy Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan 44919, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 790-784, Republic of Korea.
⁶ Advanced Materials and Chemical Engineering, University of Science and Technology (UST), Ulsan 44429, Republic of Korea.

PMID: 35648512
DOI: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.0c00156

Abstract

The performance limits of conventional super engineering plastics with inorganic nanofillers are surpassed by all-organic nanocomposites prepared via in situ S_NAr polymerization of polysulfone (PSU) in the presence of a highly dispersed aramid nanofiber (ANF) solution. The latter is directly used, bypassing the energy-consuming, nanostructure-damaging workup process. Using only a 0.15 wt % nanofiller, the all-organic nanocomposite shows an ultimate tensile strength 1.6× higher and 3.4× tougher than neat PSU and its blending counterpart due to the mutually interactive filler and maximally homogenized matrix. The exceptional toughness of the ANF/PSU nanocomposite originates from the grafted PSU on the surface of ANF; it drives stress-delocalized deformation, as revealed by stress-absorbable viscoelastic behavior and ductile elongation of materials. This material is a promising candidate for use as a filler-interactive, high-performance nanocomposite.