A highly conductive and reinforced polypropylene/nickel coated glass fiber (PP/NCGF) composite is fabricated via a simple and efficient strategy. Nucleating agent induced crystallization leads to the sharp volume excluded effect and drives NCGFs into the amorphous region of PP matrix, thus the formation of conductive network connected by NCGFs is promoted remarkably. The incorporation of nucleating agent dibenzylidene sorbitol (DBS) improves the strength of composites simultaneously due to the enhanced crystallinity and the reinforced interfacial interaction. Accordingly, the percolation threshold of PP/NCGF composites is decreased to 0.35 vol% (Ni content) by loading DBS, and the conductivity increases by four order of magnitude around the percolation threshold which exceeds 70 S/m with the Ni content of only 0.47 vol%. The tensile strength of PP/NCGF composites is increased by about 30–40 % in all range of NCGF content. This exciting result provides a strategy to prepare high-performance conductive composites by crystallization-induced enhancement.
Graphical abstract Nucleating agent induced crystallization leads to the sharp volume excluded effect and drives Ni coated glass fibers into the amorphous region of PP matrix, thus the formation of conductive network is promoted remarkably. The incorporation of nucleating agent improves the strength of composites simultaneously due to the enhanced crystallinity and the reinforced interfacial interaction.
We fabricated high performance films using cellulose butyral (CB) synthesized from native cellulose. Two-step reactions were adopted to produce the derivative CB, including etherification of cellulose with glycidol in NaOH/urea aqueous solution to yield O-(2,3-dihydroxypropyl) cellulose (DHPC), and butyralization of DHPC. Both DHPC and CB products were easily processed into a thin film by hot-press molding. The butyral modifier significantly improved the tenacity of highly ductile DHPC, by virtue of the possible chain-entangling action of the ring structures in the stretching process. Thereby the film toughness was markedly enhanced. The CB films exhibited excellent optical transparency and a good adhesive property to glass plates. Thus the films may be comparable to commercial poly(vinyl butyral) (PVB) films in optical and mechanical performances and therefore possess a potential applicability as interlayer for laminated glasses. 相似文献