Revealing microscale bulk structures in polymer–carbon nanocomposites using spin-echo SANS

Tiihonen, L. V.; Weir, M. P.; Parnell, A. J.; Boothroyd, S. C.; Johnson, D. W.; Dalgliesh, R. M.; Bleuel, M.; Duif, C. P.; Bouwman, W. G.; Thompson, R. L.; Coleman, K. S.; Clarke, N.; Hamilton, W. A.; Washington, A. L.; Parnell, S. R.

Abstract

We have used spin-echo small-angle neutron scattering (SESANS) to probe the hierarchy of structures present in polymer-carbon nanocomposites, with length scales spanning over three orders of magnitude, from 10 nm to 16 μm. The data processing and reduction show a unified approach across two SESANS instruments (TU Delft and Larmor at the ISIS neutron source) and yield consistent data that are able to be modelled using well-established hierarchical models in freely available software such as SasView. Using this approach, we are able to extend the measured length scales by over an order of magnitude compared to traditional scattering methods. This yields information about the structure in the bulk that is inaccessible with conventional scattering techniques (SANS/SAXS) and points to a way for interrogating and investigating polymer nanocomposites routinely across multiple length scales.

Citation

Tiihonen, L. V., Weir, M. P., Parnell, A. J., Boothroyd, S. C., Johnson, D. W., Dalgliesh, R. M., Bleuel, M., Duif, C. P., Bouwman, W. G., Thompson, R. L., Coleman, K. S., Clarke, N., Hamilton, W. A., Washington, A. L., & Parnell, S. R. (2024). Revealing microscale bulk structures in polymer–carbon nanocomposites using spin-echo SANS. Soft Matter, 20(43), 8663-8674. https://doi.org/10.1039/d4sm00578c

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 20, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Oct 1, 2024
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2024
• Deposit Date: Nov 18, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 19, 2024
• Journal: Soft Matter
• Print ISSN: 1744-683X
• Electronic ISSN: 1744-6848
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 43
• Pages: 8663-8674
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d4sm00578c
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/41930414
• Publisher URL: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2024/sm/d4sm00578c