Super gas barrier nanocoatings have recently been demonstrated by combining polyelectrolytes and clay nanoplatelets with layer-by-layer deposition. These nanobrick wall thin films match or exceed the gas barrier of SiOx and metallized films, but they are relatively stiff and lose barrier with significant stretching (= 10% strain). In an effort to impart stretchability, hydrogen-bonding polyglycidol (PGD) layers were added to an electrostatically bonded thin film assembly of polyethylenimine (PEI) and montmorillonite (MMT) clay. The oxygen transmission rate of a 125 nm thick PEI-MMT film increased more than 40x after being stretched 10%, while PGD-PEI-MMT trilayers of the same thickness maintained its gas barrier. This stretchable trilayer system had an OTR three times lower than the PEI-MMT bilayer system after stretching. This report marks the first stretchable high gas barrier thin film, which is potentially useful for applications that require pressurized elastomers. ?

Stretchable gas barrier achieved with partially hydrogen-bonded polymer-clay multilayer nanocoating

248th National Meeting (2014)

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