Synthesis and Characterizations of PVDF-HFP-Fullerene Nano Fluids in a Non-aqueous Medium

Abstract

PVDF, along with its copolymer HFP, exhibits a wider range of characteristics compared to pure PVDF, including better mechanical strength, higher solubility, and enhanced hydrophobicity.1,2 To study these properties, a PVDF-Co-HFP solution is prepared by dissolving polymer pellets in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) under heated conditions. A nanofluid is then prepared by adding a fullerene solution to the polymer mixture and stirring it at elevated temperatures. Various concentrations of nanofluids are prepared, and UV-Visible and FTIR tests are conducted to analyze the changes that occur after the addition of fullerene. From the UV-Visible analysis, it is observed that the intensity of the bands increases with the concentration of fullerene. Notably, the PVDF-HFP solution initially shows only one band at 217 nm, but after the addition of fullerene, two new bands appear: one at 330 nm (attributed to fullerene in the fluid) and another at 410 nm (due to the interaction between the polymer and fullerene). These findings confirm the presence of fullerene within the polymer solution. The FTIR analysis reveals several peaks indicating the presence of different functional groups. It is observed that one of the peaks associated with PVDF-HFP shifts upon the addition of fullerene. Additionally, the FTIR results show that increasing the fullerene concentration decreases the transmittance (%T). Some of the vibrational bands of polymers have shifted upon addition of fullerene. Specific peaks identified in the FTIR spectrum include: C-F2 bending, CH2 bending, C-F stretching, C-H stretching, etc. The DLS (Size analysis) report shows that the samples are polydispersed sample in which broad size distribution of nanoparticles is revealed which increases with increasing conc. of fullerene. Then by the preparation of nanofilm of PVDF-HFP- Fullerene we extract data from XRD and FESEM.Also from XRD analysis we found that the polymer PVDF-HFP and with its nano composites shows different peaks nearly 18 to 30 of 2Ө value which gives idea about different phases of polymer solution. Also from the graph we found that the polymer shows sharper peak at 2Ө value 18.3858 with large crystallite size, but after addition of increasing conc. of C60 the peaks become broader which shows the presence of smaller crystallite size of nanoparticles in polymer. Additionally, from FESEM image we found that the polymer PVDF-HFP has porous structure. But from another FESEM images we found the gradually dispersion of fullerene nanoparticles within the polymer . At high concentration of fullerene it is found that the fully dispersion and agglomeration of nanoparticles with polymer. These experiments aim to study the behavioural changes in PVDF-HFP caused by the incorporation of fullerene, which is an emerging trend in polymer research.