Enhanced thermal and energetic properties of NC-based nanocomposites with silane functionalized GO

• Published in: Dalton transactions : an international journal of inorganic chemistry 2021-12, Vol.5 (47), p.17766-17773
• Main Authors: Lu, Tingting, Zhao, Baodong, Liu, Yajing, Yan, Zhengfeng, Wang, Yinglei, Fu, Xiaolong, Yan, Qi-Long
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aminopropyltriethoxysilane; Cellulose esters; Cellulose nitrate; Decomposition; Graphene; Heat of combustion; Nanocomposites; Silanes; Thermal decomposition; Thermodynamic properties
• ISSN: 1477-9226; 1477-9234
• DOI: 10.1039/d1dt03305k

The surface functionalization of graphene oxide (GO) is always attractive in improving certain properties of the polymer. In this study, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) and 3-mercaptopropyl-trimethoxysilane (SPTES) have been used to make silane functionalized graphene oxides (SiGOs). The APTES-grafted GO (NH-SiGO), SPTES-grafted GO (SH-SiGO) and pure GO have been separately introduced into the nitrocellulose (NC) matrix. The morphology, thermal properties and energetic properties of the prepared nanocomposites (NH-SiGO and SH-SiGO) were investigated comprehensively. It is shown that the presence of GO and SiGOs have different influences on the thermal reactivity of NC with various contents, and NH-SiGO with 0.5 wt% content showed better catalytic performance on the thermal decomposition of NC than others and showed prominently higher efficiency in improving its heat of combustion. Adding 0.5 wt% of NH-SiGO to NC may decrease its decomposition temperature from 202.1 °C to 196.6 °C, and the residue was decreased from 10.61 wt% to 3.95 wt%, respectively. One isoconversional kinetic method was exploited to determine the kinetic parameters of NC and its nanocomposites. It was found that NH-SiGO had a strong catalytic action on the thermal decomposition of NC-based nanocomposites for which the activation energy and the pre-exponential factor were considerably lowered, while SH-SiGO exhibited an inverse effect. The heat of combustion from NC/GO/0.5, NC/NH-SiGO/0.5 and NC/SH-SiGO/0.5 were determined as 11 249.5, 11 675.1 and 11 491.5 J g −1 , respectively, which are higher than that of the pure NC (10 908.4 J g −1 ). From the combustion process of NC/NH-SiGO/0.5, it was shown that the nanocomposite was combusted completely. The surface functionalization of graphene oxide (GO) is always attractive in improving certain properties of the polymer.