Polymer/carbon nanofillers films fabricated by latex technology

This research presents a generic fabrication method for tailoring polymer/carbon nanofillers composites with controlled architecture and composition. Two types of common carbon nanofillers, i.e. multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and graphene nanosheets, are finely dispersed in an aqueous dispersion of polyacrylate followed by a microfiltration process. The second step allows preserving the high dispersion level of the nanofillers within the polymer matrix in the resulting solid films/layers. This study aims to investigate the structure–property relationship of the polyacrylate/nanofiller films, fabricated by the combination of latex technology and microfiltration. The polyacrylate/MWNTs system is studied over the entire MWNTs composition (0 to 100 wt%) and is shown to exhibit a structural transition; from a nanocomposite structure, in which the nanotubes are dispersed within a continuous polymer matrix, to a porous MWNTs macrostructure containing segregated polymer domains. This structural transition is corroborated with the films-specific surface area values and the mechanical properties versus the MWNTs content. The percolation threshold of the studied polyacrylate/MWNTs systems is obtained at MWNTs content of ~0.04 wt%, an order of magnitude lower compared with cast films, fabricated by conventional latex technology. Polyacrylate/graphene nanosheet nanocomposites that are fabricated using the same method also demonstrate a structural transition from nanofiller/polymer composite material to graphene macrostructures. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.