Balancing anti‐migration and anti‐aging behavior of binary antioxidants for high‐performance 1, 2‐polybutadiene rubber

For rubber materials, the antioxidants are significant for maintaining the long service life when suffering from external stimuli. However, the common low-molecular-weight antioxidants easily migrate to the rubber surface and lose the anti-aging effect. In this work, we develop highly anti-migration hindered phenolic antioxidants, which have been obtained by covalently grafting 3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxybenzoic acid (AO) onto carbon nanotubes (CNTs). To improve the adhesion of AO and CNTs, the polydopamine with the potential reactive functional groups was linked between antioxidants and CNTs by mussel biomimetic strategy. The binary antioxidants integrated the good reinforcement and dispersity of CNTs with the anti-aging characteristics of hindered phenol. What is more, the experimental results indicate that the total loading efficiency of AO could reach 11.7 wt%. The 1,2-Polybutadiene/CNTs-AO composites could be stored in a thermal oxidation environment for 15 days with minimal degradation of mechanical properties. This strategy proposed herein provides insights into the development of highly anti-migration and anti-aging antioxidants by a simple, cost-effective, and pollution-free method.