Octadecylamine Graft-modified Cellulose Nanofiber and Its Reinforcement to Poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) Composites

Biodegradable polymers such as poly(butylene adipate-coterephthalate)(PBAT)have attracted great interest as alternatives to traditional petroleum-based polymers.Nonetheless,it is necessary to improve some properties of PBAT,such as mechanical strength.Cellulose nanofiber(CNF)can improve PBAT mechanical strength,but its dispersion and compatibility in the PBAT matrix require further improvement.In this study,octadecylamine(ODA)was utilized to graft-modify CNF to change the fiberto-fiber interaction and improve its compatibility with the PBAT matrix.PBAT composites with 1 wt%CNF were prepared using a masterbatch premixing method to avoid CNF aggregation during extrusion.The effects of ODA graft modification on CNF properties were studied;varying degrees of CNF modification were investigated for their effect on PBAT properties.ODA-modified CNF(OCNF)/PBAT melt-extruded composites possessing 17.2%higher tensile strength than pure PBAT polymer were obtained without affecting the thermal stability of PBAT.As a result,surface modification of CNF with ODA is an effective strategy for improving CNF-PBAT compatibility.

Organically-Expanded Graphite/Octadecylamine: Structural, Thermal and Relaxation Evaluation

Natural graphite was chemically modified by an acid mixture (H2SO4/HNO3, 4:1) using sonication. The resulting material was then expanded with octadecylamine by the dispersion method. The sample was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetry (TG), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and relaxometry—low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LFNMR). The SEM images revealed the expansion of the graphite layers. The presence of CH absorption was detected in the infrared spectrum of the expanded sample. The WAXD showed an additional diffraction peak at lower 2θ angle, indicating that intercalation of octadecylamine was successful. The thermogravimetry curve revealed three degradation steps. Two of them could be attributed to different structures (delaminated and exfoliated). The relaxometry showed that the relaxation time was dependon the frequency and the curve of the graphite/octadecylamine presented two peaks—approximately before 106 Hz and after 107 Hz. The results permitted inferring that organically modified graphite was achieved.

The fabrication of flower-like graphene/octadecylamine composites

Three-dimensional flower-like nanomaterials have wide application due to the large specific surface area.In this letter,the morphology of octadecylamine（ODA） from several common solvents is studied and it is found that from the chloroform and acetone solution,ODA assembles into petal-like structure,which further forms the spherical or flower-like architecture.Furthermore,the composite materials incorporated reduced graphene oxide（rGO） and ODA could well keep the flower-shaped structure of ODA.XRD results show that the introduction of graphene has little influence on the structure of ODA and contact angle test indicates good hydrophobic performance of the rGO/ODA material.

Facile one-step synthesis of Cu_2O@Cu sub-microspheres composites as anode materials for lithium ion batteries

Cu2O@Cu sub-microspheres composites with a narrow particle size distribution from 300 to 500 nm was successfully fabricated by one-step synthesis through the direct thermal decomposition of copper nitrate （Cu（NO3）2） in octadecylamine （ODA） solvent. As anode materials for lithium ion batteries, the Cu2O@Cu composites obviously possess high specific capacity, excellent cyclic stability and rate capability. The coulombic efficiency is about 84% in the 1 st cycle and increases significantly up to 97.8% during successive cycles at various current densities. Even under a high current density of 500 mA g^-l, the discharge capacity of Cu2O@Cu composites remains up to 200 mAh g^-1. The excellent electrochemical properties are ascribed to the synergistic effect between high electronic conductivity and volume-buffering capacity of metallic copper composited with Cu2O.2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science ＆ Technology.