Effect of nanoclay and barium sulfate nanoparticles on the thermal and morphological properties of polyvinylidene fluoride nanocomposites

The thermal, morphological and optical studies of BaSO₄ and MMT (nanoclay) embedded in PVDF were investigated. Nanocomposites samples of PVDF–BaSO₄–MMT were prepared by varying the loadings (1–4 mass%) in case of BaSO₄ and MMT nanomaterials, respectively. Polyvinylidene fluoride–barium sulfate-montmorillonite (PVDF–BaSO₄–MMT) nanocomposites were prepared by solvent-mixing technique. Nanoparticles were synthesized by in situ deposition technique with the help of nonionic polymeric surfactant, and the particle size of nanoparticles was recognized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis which confirms that the particle has diameter of 80–90 nm. As prepared, nanocomposites films (thickness, 25 μm) were characterized by Fourier transform infrared microscopy (FTIR), SEM and electron diffraction spectroscopy (EDS). FTIR shows that all the chemical constituents were present in the nanocomposites, whereas SEM analysis suggested that the nanofillers dispersed well in polymer matrix and EDS showed the elemental composition of nanocomposite samples. Thermal properties of nanocomposites were studied by using TG/DTA/DTG. TG/DTA studies showed decomposition temperature of pure PVDF is 473.5 °C. The decomposition temperature (T _d) of nanocomposites was increased by 93 °C in case of nanocomposites with addition of both BaSO₄ and MMT nanomaterials. The difference in the thermal degradation temperature was found to be 1.2% higher in case of addition of BaSO₄ nanoparticle as compared to nanoclay. The obtained transparent nanocomposite films were characterized by using UV–Vis spectrophotometer which shows that transparencies of nanocomposites are maintained in visible region, the intensity of absorption band in UV region is increased with the addition of BaSO₄ nanoparticles, while in case of addition of nanoclay the UV region does not show drastic changes. Addition of both nanoparticle and nanoclay shows higher absorption in comparison with the individual samples. But further, doubling the amount of nanoparticle and nanoclay shows decrease in UV absorption. Overall, the results of thermal studies show that the incorporation of BaSO₄ and MMT could significantly improve the thermal properties of nanocomposites.