Magnetic tetraethylenepentamine-functionalized graphene oxide to prepare new methyl rich bisphenol-based soluble and heat-resistant polyamide ether nanocomposites: Synthesis and characterization

Abstract

The new magnetic and heat-resistant polyamide ether (PAE)/graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposites were prepared by blending PAE with modified GO. Furthermore, a novel PAE containing flexible ether, methyl, and triphenylmethane moiety in the main chain of PAE was prepared by direct polycondensation reaction of a diamine and 4,4′-(butane-1,4-diylbis(oxy))dibenzoic acid (9). The prepared PAE was characterized using various techniques. The obtained PAEs were readily soluble in various aprotic polar solvents at room temperature. The incorporation of bulky aryl pendant groups and flexible ether linkage into the backbones of polyamide may provide beneficial effects for solubility, as this approach produces a separate chain of the polymer, which makes weaker of hydrogen bonds. GO, which synthesized by the Hummer method, was modified with tetraethylenepentamine (GO-TEPA) and sequentially magnetized with Fe3O4 nanoparticles via chemical coprecipitation (GO-TEPA@Fe3O4). The PAE/GO/TEPA@Fe3O4 nanocomposite films, PAE/GO-TEPA@Fe3O4, were also synthesized as a heat-resistant and superparamagnetic nanocomposites, which were characterized using different analyses, such as field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and Fourier transform infrared techniques. TGA of nanocomposites exhibit higher degradation temperature than that of neat PAE, which is an indication of high levels of interfacial interaction and dispersion.