Properties of PVDF-MCM41 Nanocomposites Studied by Dielectric, Raman and NMR Spectroscopy

To obtain information on the polymer-inorganic filler interactions and on the confinement effect of polymer chains we studied the properties of solution-cast poly(vinylidene fluoride)-MCM41 molecular sieve nanocomposites. The dielectric response of the nanocomposites was found to be determined generally by the response of the polymer matrix, whereas the polymer-filler interactions resulted in an increase of the relaxation rates of the local mode and segmental motions in the amorphous phase of the poly(vinylidene fluoride) matrix. The effect has been related to a reduction of intermolecular correlations between the segments and was confirmed by the dispersion of 1H spin-lattice relaxation times in PVDF-MCM41 composites. Moreover, the relaxometry experiments have shown that the dynamics of poly(vinylidene fluoride) chains confined to MCM41 molecular sieve channels can be described by tube/reptation model proposed by De Gennes, Doi and Edwards.