Improving Mechanical Properties of Poly(ethylene oxide) Composites Using RAFT-Modified SiO₂ Nanoparticles

Abstract

The objective of this work was to examine the impact of conventional and RAFT-modified SiO₂ nanoparticles on the mechanical characteristics and crystallinity of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) composites. Preparation of PEO composites included the incorporation of 5 wt% of both unaltered SiO₃ and SiO₃ that had been changed via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. We assessed the mechanical characteristics, such as strain at fracture, ultimate tensile strength, and Young’s modulus. The inclusion of unaltered SiO₂ decreased the strain at fracture (570 ± 18%) and ultimate tensile strength (22.5 ± 0.8 MPa) in comparison to pure PEO (850 ± 25%, 32.0 ± 1.2 MPa). Nevertheless, the inclusion of RAFT-modified SiO₂ led to improved tensile characteristics, including a strain at break of 800 ± 30%, ultimate tensile strength of 35.2 ± 2.5 MPa, and Young’s modulus of 260 ± 13 MPa. The effective dispersion of RAFT- modified SiO₂ in the PEO matrix was verified by X-ray diffraction (XRD), leading to enhanced mechanical characteristics. This research points that the using the RAFT polymerization to alter the surface of nanoparticles is a good strategy to enhance the efficiencies of PEO composite for potential application in versatile electronics, membranes and other polymers technologies.

Keywords

• poly(ethylene oxide)
• sio₂ nanoparticles
• raft polymerization
• composite materials
• mechanical properties
• xrd analysis