Molecular dynamics simulation insight into topological structure dependence of self-healing polymer nanocomposites

Polymer nanocomposites (PNCs), which exhibit excellent mechanical properties through the incorporation of fillers into polymers, have been extensively studied to achieve enhanced self-healing capability for their next-generation development. However, there is still a lack of investigation into the i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP 2023-07, Vol.25 (28), p.1946-1957
Main Authors: Shang, Wei, Hou, Guanyi, Ren, Runhan, Li, Xinyu, Weng, Yunxuan, Liu, Jun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Dynamic structural analysis
Functional groups
Mathematical analysis
Mechanical properties
Molecular dynamics
Molecular structure
Nanocomposites
Nanoparticles
Performance enhancement
Polymers
Rings (mathematics)
Self healing materials
Simulation
Stress-strain curves
Stretching
Topology
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Summary:Polymer nanocomposites (PNCs), which exhibit excellent mechanical properties through the incorporation of fillers into polymers, have been extensively studied to achieve enhanced self-healing capability for their next-generation development. However, there is still a lack of investigation into the influence of the topological structures of nanoparticles (NPs) on the self-healing capability of PNCs. In this study, we utilized coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations (CGMDs) to construct a series of PNC systems composed of NPs with different topological structures, including Linear, Ring, and Cross topologies. We employed non-bonding interaction potentials to examine the interactions between the polymer and NPs, and varied the parameters to simulate different functional groups. Our results indicate that the stress-strain curves and the rate of performance loss validate that the Linear structure is the optimal topology for mechanical reinforcement and self-healing properties. By analyzing the stress heat map during stretching, we observed that the Linear structure NPs experience significant stress, allowing the matrix chains to dominate in small recoverable deformations during stretching. It can be speculated that NPs oriented in the direction of extrusion are more effective than others in enhancing performance. Overall, this work provides valuable theoretical guidance and a novel strategy for designing and manipulating high-performance, self-healing PNCs. Topological NPs in PNCs were analyzed for their impact on performance. Linear NPs exhibited superior mechanics, while Ring NPs tended to stack due to their smooth shape. Cross NPs enabled spatial cross-linking among the NPs.
ISSN:1463-9076
1463-9084
DOI:10.1039/d3cp01309j