A noncovalent functionalization approach to improve the dispersibility and properties of polymer/MoS2 composites

In the evolution of high performance layered inorganic compounds/polymer nanocomposites, homogeneous dispersion of inorganic nanoplatelets in the polymer matrix and exact interface control are difficult to achieve due to the potent interlayer cohesive energy and surface inactiveness of the nanocomposites. Pristine MoS2 exhibits poor solubility in both water and organic solvents. Herein, it is necessary to modify the surface of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanosheets with functional groups, in order to enhance its dispersity and compatibility in various solvents and polymer matrices. In this paper, we have reported a convenient method to modify MoS2 nanosheets with common cationic surfactant and polymer, these organic modified MoS2 nanosheets dispersed well in organic solvents and aqueous solution simultaneously. This well dispersion can be used to prepare polymer/MoS2 nanocomposites by a simple solvent mixing method which was found to display an exfoliation structure of MoS2 nanosheets and improve the performances of the polymer nanocomposites. With the addition of 3 wt% CTAB-MoS2, T10% and T50% of the samples are increased by 60 °C, respectively. Moreover, the storage modulus of sample PS/3% CTAB-MoS2 had 84% increment compared with that of pure PS at 30 °C.