. . . . . . . . . .    ANM 2010     3rd International Conference on Advanced Nano Materials     12-15 September 2010 - Agadir, Morocco Back    Abstract ANMM198 EFFECT OF ZEOLITE CONTENT IN THE MECHANICAL, DIELECTRIC AND THERMAL DEGRADATION RESPONSE OF POLY(VINYLIDENE FLUORIDE)/NaY ZEOLITE NANOCOMPOSITES  A.C. Lopes a) b), R. Gonçalves a), A. M. Fonseca a), G. Botelho a) and I. C. Neves a) and S.Lanceros-Mendez b) a) Departamento de Química, Centro de Química, Universidade do Minho Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal - ineves@quimica.uminho.pt b) Departamento de Física, Centro de Física, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal - lanceros@fisica.uminho.pt . Poly(vinilidene fluoride), PVDF, is a semi-crystalline polymer with remarkable pyro-, piezo- and ferroelectrics properties, leading to electro-mechanical, energy storage and biomedical applications. For many of these applications it is important to be able to tune the dielectric constant of the material. In order to achieve this, composites materials are designed. In the present work, thin films of PVDF doped with different amounts of NaY zeolite (Na53Al53Si139O384) nanoparticles were investigated. The crystalline phase of the PVDF matrix in the obtained nanocomposites was the nonpolar one, -phase. -PVDF can be obtained by stretching. The morphological structures of the nanocomposites was studied by SEM and the phase content by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). The results showed a good dispersion of NaY and that zeolite introduction does not change the polymer phase of PVDF present in the nanocomposites. The electric, thermal and mechanical properties of the nanocomposites were studied. Quasi-static mechanical experiments show that zeolite nanoparticles do not cause a substantial change in the mechanical performance of the material. PVDF nanocomposites only exhibited a slight improvement in the Young Modulus with increasing NaY content. On the other hand, the introduction of the NaY nanoparticles enhance the dielectric constant at room temperature with increasing zeolite content (10.5 at 4 wt% to 137 at 32 wt%). This result can be attributed to interfacial polarization effects. Thermogravimetric (TGA) results show that the introduction of zeolites affects the material degradation. The weight loss at 100ºC indicates the increase in water absorption with increasing zeolite content. This may lead to the increase of dielectric constant at room temperature, too. The authors thank the financial support of the Portuguese FCT (projects POCTI-SFA-3-686 and NANO/NMed-SD/0156/2007). RG and ACL are thankful to FCT for the grants BII/2009 and SFRH/BD/62507/2009, respectively. . © nanoAC . . . . . . . . . .

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