The field of polymer nanocomposites has received much attention in recent years. Polymers offer a wide variety of uses in aerospace engineering, drug delivery, additive manufacturing, and energy storage applications. These materials provide both flexibility and durability, however mechanical stability and electrical conductivity can be further improved with the incorporation of fillers. Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal carbides and nitrides (MXenes) have rich chemistries and unique morphologies that offer metallic conductivity and hydrophilicity coupled with good mechanical properties. Additionally, the aqueous environment for MXene synthesis results in various tunable surface terminations. Current MXene-polymer composites have been investigated for applications such as electrodes in supercapacitors and Li-ion batteries for energy storage, water desalination, antibacterial activity, and electromagnetic interference shielding. However, very few studies have explored their role as structural reinforcements in polymers. Additionally, MXenes have been shown to have good mechanical stability with Young’s modulus of 330 GPa surpassing both GO and rGO making it one of the strongest solution-processable 2D materials. Ideally, for a 2D filler material to be effective there must be 1) uniform dispersion of the filler throughout the polymer matrix and 2) interaction at the polymer-filler interface. Here we present functionalized Ti3C2 MXene surfaces for improved matrix-filler interface and mechanical response in epoxy-MXene nanocomposites. Furthermore, amine-based and thermally latent room temperature ionic liquids were explored as different curing mechanisms for the epoxy resin systems crosslinked in the presence of Ti3C2.

Functionalized transition metal carbides (MXenes) for improved interface and mechanical properties of polymer nanocomposites

2019 Spring National Meeting

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