Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Modifications Produced by Carbon Nanotubes and Fe2O3 Nanoparticles

Alfio Torrisi; Lorenzo Torrisi; Mariapompea Cutroneo; Alena Michalcova; Milena D'Angelo; Letteria Silipigni

doi:10.3390/polym15051169

Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Modifications Produced by Carbon Nanotubes and Fe₂O₃ Nanoparticles

Polymers (Basel). 2023 Feb 25;15(5):1169. doi: 10.3390/polym15051169.

Authors

Alfio Torrisi^{1

2}, Lorenzo Torrisi³, Mariapompea Cutroneo⁴, Alena Michalcova⁵, Milena D'Angelo^{1

2}, Letteria Silipigni³

Affiliations

¹ Dipartimento Interateneo di Fisica, Università di Bari Aldo Moro, 70125 Bari, Italy.
² Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Bari, 70126 Bari, Italy.
³ Department of Mathematics and Computer Sciences, Physical Sciences and Earth Sciences (MIFT), University of Messina, 98166 Messina, Italy.
⁴ Nuclear Physics Institute of the CAS, Hlavní 130, 250 68 Husinec-Řež, Czech Republic.
⁵ Department of Metals and Corrosion Engineering, University of Chemistry and Technology, 166 28 Prague, Czech Republic.

Abstract

Thin sheets of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), both in pristine form and containing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) or Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles (NPs) at different concentrations, were prepared. The CNT and Fe₂O₃ NP weight percentages used ranged from 0.01% to 1%. The presence of CNTs and Fe₂O₃ NPs in UHMWPE was confirmed by transmission and scanning electron microscopy and by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis (EDS). The effects of the embedded nanostructures on the UHMWPE samples were studied using attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. The ATR-FTIR spectra show the characteristic features of the UHMWPE, CNTs, and Fe₂O₃. Concerning the optical properties, regardless of the type of embedded nanostructures, an increase in the optical absorption was observed. The allowed direct optical energy gap value was determined from the optical absorption spectra: in both cases, it decreases with increasing CNT or Fe₂O₃ NP concentrations. The obtained results will be presented and discussed.

Keywords: ATR-FTIR; Fe2O3 nanoparticles; UHMWPE; UV–Vis; carbon nanotubes; energy gap.

Grants and funding

This research was realized at the CANAM (Center of Accelerators and Nuclear Analytical Methods) infrastructure LM 2015056. This publication was supported by OP RDE, MEYS, Czech Republic under the project CANAM OP, CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_013/0001812, and by the Czech Science Foundation (GACR No. 22-10536S). A.T. and M.D. acknowledge the support of the University of Bari (Horizon Europe Seeds, project INTERGLIO).