Hydrogen-Bonding Assembly of Rigid-Rod Poly(p-sulfophenylene terephthalamide) and Flexible-Chain Poly(vinyl alcohol) for Transparent, Strong, and Tough Molecular Composites

Molecular composites comprising poly(p-sulfophenylene terephthalamide) (sPPTA), a sulfonated polyaramid rigid-rod polyelectrolyte, and flexible-chain poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) were prepared by a green and easy-to-scale-up water casting method. Influence of sPPTA on the microstructure and properties of the molecular composites was systematically investigated. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirms the existence of hydrogen bonding between sPPTA and PVA. Wide-angle X-ray diffraction patterns do not show the characteristic of neat sPPTA crystalline aggregates in the composites even when the sPPTA content is as high as 33 wt %, suggesting that the strong interaction between sPPTA and PVA prevents the self-aggregation of sPPTA and leads to the formation of PVA/sPPTA complexes inside the composites. Transmission electron microscopy shows that sPPTA has good compatibility with PVA, and nanoscale fibril-like supramolecular assemblies dispersing uniformly in the composites become observable with the increase of sPPTA content. Moreover, the PVA/sPPTA complexes have a strong effect on the melt point, crystallinity, mechanical properties, and thermal stability of PVA. The PVA/sPPTA composites exhibit both high strength and high ductility. When the content of sPPTA is 5 wt %, the PVA/sPPTA composite exhibits the best mechanical properties, with a tensile strength of 169 ± 13 MPa, which is 54% higher than that of neat PVA (110 ± 10 MPa). Surprisingly, the reinforcement factor is even superior to that of multiwalled carbon nanotubes, vapor grown carbon fibers, and nanodiamonds previously reported for the reinforcement of PVA nanocomposites. Moreover, the PVA/sPPTA molecular composites have a relatively low modulus but a much larger elongation at break than prefabricated nanocomposites, showing good ductility. The strong and tough PVA/sPPTA molecular composites can be potentially used as high performance membranes or fibers in the future.