Morphology and thermal properties of novel poly(phenylene sulfide) hybrid nanocomposites based on single-walled carbon nanotubes and inorganic fullerene-like WS2 nanoparticles

We report for the first time the preparation and characterization of novel poly(phenylene sulfide) (PPS) hybrid nanocomposites based on polyetherimide-modified single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT-PEI). A traditional melt processing strategy was employed providing a versatile, economic and scalable route to the creation of new materials with improved properties. The influence of the presence and concentration of SWCNT-PEI on the structure, morphology, dynamic crystallization behaviour, thermal stability and thermal conductivity of PPS in PPS/SWCNT-PEI nanocomposites was investigated in detail. In the presence of SWCNT-PEI, the crystallization rate of the PPS matrix in the nanocomposites was lowered with respect to that of neat PPS, and the thermal stability and thermal conductivity of PPS increased with increasing SWCNT-PEI content. The combination of PPS/SWCNT-PEI with inorganic fullerene-like tungsten disulfide (IF-WS2) nanoparticles offers an attractive route to combine the merits of organic and inorganic materials into novel hybrid nanocomposite materials. A synergistic improvement in the thermal properties of PPS/SWCNT-PEI nanocomposites was observed with the addition of IF-WS2. As previously observed in PEEK hybrid systems, the dispersion, morphology and thermal properties of PPS/SWCNT nanocomposites could be tuned by the introduction of small amounts of IF-WS2. The results obtained are very promising and suggest that the use of IF-WS2, a cheap and environmentally friendly reinforcing filler, can also provide an effective balance between performance, cost-effectiveness and processability of polymer/CNT nanocomposites based on the PPS matrix.