Novel improvement in processing of polymer nanocomposite based on 2D materials as fillers

Here, for the first time, novel improvement in processing of polymer nanocomposite based on 2D materials as fillers leading to manufacturing by melt mixing is described. Two new strategies were used to insert pre-exfoliated 2D material into the polymer matrix, liquid-phase feeding (LPF), and solid-solid deposition (SSD). Initially, graphene oxide (GO) and polystyrene (PS) were used as templates for the 2D material and polymer, respectively. Traditional characterizations (tensile mechanical test, molecular weight, rheological measurements and transmission electron microscopy) were carried out, therefore, two unique characterization techniques beyond micro and nanoscale were also used allowing the evaluation of the nanocomposite morphology for millimeter samples size (X-ray Microtomography and Low-Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance). The results show that both methods could be suitable as large-scale manufacturing, and the process parameters must be optimized to obtain a low level of agglomerates. SSD and LPF methods were also applied to other different polymer/2D materials systems (poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) - PBAT/GO and PS/Molybdenum disulfide - MoS2), and the results are also presented here. The methodologies described here show indications that can be extended to all thermoplastic polymers and 2D materials providing nanocomposites with suitable morphology to obtain singular properties and to trigger the start of the manufacturing process on a large scale.