A Molecular-Dynamics Study of Size and Chirality Effects on Glass-Transition Temperature and Ordering in Carbon Nanotube-Polymer Composites

Marcello Malagù*, Alexey Lyulin, Elena Benvenuti, Angelo Simone

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)
17 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Molecular-dynamics simulations of single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) embedded in a coarse-grained amorphous monodisperse polyethylene-like model system have been carried out. The roles of nanotube diameter and chirality on the physical and structural properties of the composite are thoroughly discussed for several CNTs with different diameter and chirality. It is shown that the glass-transition temperature of the polymer matrix increases with the diameter of the CNT while chirality effects are negligible. A denser and ordered layered region of polymer matrix is found in the vicinity of the nanotube surface. The density and ordering of this layer increases with the CNT diameter. All simulations indicate that chirality does not affect the atomic structure of the highly ordered layer surrounding the CNTs. Despite the simplicity of the polymer model, results of this study are qualitatively comparable with those obtained from experiments and numerical simulations that consider a chemically specific polymer matrix.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)571-581
Number of pages11
JournalMacromolecular Theory and Simulations
Volume25
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016

Keywords

  • Carbon nanotubes
  • Crystallization
  • Molecular dynamics
  • Polymer
  • Size effects

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