Glass transition behaviour of thin polymer films coated on the 3D networks of porous CNT sponges

Abstract

The glass transition behaviors of thin polymer films on the sidewalls of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in CNT sponges (CNTSs) were studied. Due to the extremely large surface area of CNTS, the glass transition temperatures (T_g) of thin polystyrene (PS) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films were measured using a routine experimental method, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). We thus provide a direct T_g comparison between the thin film and the bulk sample using the same DSC technique. For thin polymer films on the CNT sidewalls, free surface and polymer–substrate interfacial interactions co-exist. It is well-known that polymer chains at the liquid-like free surface tend to have a relatively high mobility, but the mobility in the interfacial layer near the substrate depends strongly on the polymer–substrate interaction strength. Accordingly, we tuned the polymer–substrate interaction strength by introducing an amphiphilic sodiumdodecylsulfate (SDS) molecule layer on the CNT sidewalls. The value and sign of T_g deviation were influenced by the competition between the free surface effect and the interfacial interactions. Strong polymer–substrate interactions led to a decrease in the mobility of polymer chains near the substrate and weak polymer–substrate interactions have little influence on the mobility of polymer chains near the substrate. When the polymer–substrate interactions are strong, both the free surface effect and the polymer–substrate interaction are key factors influencing the glass transition temperature. For thin polymer films having weak interactions with substrates, the free surface effect dominates the glass transition behavior and T_gs shows a large reduction. We also observed a double T_g behavior in the thin PS film and found the thickness of the PS film on the substrate was a deciding factor for controlling the spatial variation of T_g.