Effect of fullerene content on the thermal, microstructure, and electrokinetic properties of fullerene/poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) nanofluids and nanocomposites

In this study I report the thermal stability, microstructures, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and electro-kinetic effect in the fullerene (C-60):poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) PVP nanofluids (NFs) and nanocomposite films. An improvement in the degradation temperature of C-60:PVP nanocomposite reported here is ascribed to free radical scavenging ability of C-60. An analysis of DLS data in terms of polydispersity index (PDI) reveals a well dispersed structure of C-60 assemblies with PVP in liquid medium. The typical electro-kinetic parameters such as zetapotential (xi) and surface conductivity (sigma(sc)) in a NF evaluates the magnitude of electrostatic repulsion between C-60 particles and such measurement tender a way to boost stability of C-60 nanoparticles in presence of PVP molecules in a particular carrier. Microstructures in various films were found to vary with increasing in the C-60 content and decreasing in the relative PVP content in the nanocomposites. Highest thermal degradation temperature (similar to 422 degrees C) was observed for the sample consisting of 13.9 mu M C-60 owing to uniform distribution of C-60 in the PVP matrix with a low PDI (0.272).