In-situ synthesis and thermal properties of biobased Poly(neopentyl glycol 2,5-furandicarboxylate)/multi-walled carbon nanotubes composites

The in-situ synthesis and thermal properties of biobased poly(neopentyl glycol 2,5-furandicarboxylate) (PNF)/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) composites were studied in this research. The chemical structure, thermal stability, crystallization behavior, and crystal structure of PNF/MWCNTs composites were extensively investigated and compared with those of PNF. Scanning electron microscopy image revealed that MWCNTs uniformly dispersed in PNF matrix. In the composites, MWCNTs slightly improved the thermal stability of PNF, while the crystallization of PNF was obviously enhanced by MWCNTS under both the nonisothermal and isothermal crystallization conditions as the heterogeneous nucleating agent. Only 0.5 wt% of MWCNTs obviously increased the melt crystallization temperature from 132.9 °C for neat PNF to 141.2 °C for the composite and decreased the crystallization half-time from 3.1 min for neat PNF to 1.9 min for the composite at 165 °C. In addition, MWCNTs did not modify the crystal structure of PNF.