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Tomography of Electrospun Carbon Nanotube Polymeric Blends by Focus Ion Beam: Alignment and Phase Separation Analysis from Multicontrast Electron Imaging

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Campo, EM 
Yates, D 
Berson, B 
Rojas, W 
Winter, AD 

Abstract

jats:pMultimodal focused ion beam (FIB) imaging on a polydimethylsiloxane/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) electrospun composite has been applied to discriminate the phase‐separated polymer blend and identify MWCNT fillers. Upon tomographic reconstruction, this discrimination has been possible through both atomic number and voltage contrast, the latter being enabled by preferential MWCNT segregation to PMMA. This study suggests that electrospinning could be affecting not only MWCNT alignment but also phase separation dynamics of immiscible polymers, yielding a porous structure throughout the fibers. This work opens the door to correlative materials science in polymer nanocomposites through FIB tomography, where voltage contrast is a main actor. <jats:boxed-text content-type="graphic" position="anchor"><jats:graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" mimetype="image/png" position="anchor" specific-use="enlarged-web-image" xlink:href="graphic/mame201600479-abs-0001-m.png">jats:alt-textimage</jats:alt-text></jats:graphic></jats:boxed-text></jats:p>

Description

Keywords

electrospinning, focus ion beam, nanocomposites, tomography

Journal Title

Macromolecular Materials and Engineering

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1438-7492
1439-2054

Volume Title

302

Publisher

Wiley