Publications

Stretchable gas barrier achieved with partially hydrogen-bonded multilayer nanocoating

Super gas barrier nanocoatings are recently demonstrated by combining polyelectrolytes and clay nanoplatelets with layer-by-layer deposition. These nanobrick wall thin films match or exceed the gas barrier of SiOx and metallized films, but they are relatively stiff and lose barrier with significant stretching (≥10% strain). In an effort to impart stretchability, hydrogen-bonding polyglycidol (PGD) layers are added to an electrostatically bonded thin film assembly of polyethylenimine (PEI) and montmorillonite (MMT) clay. The oxygen transmission rate of a 125-nm thick PEI-MMT film increases more than 40x after being stretched 10%, while PGD-PEI-MMT trilayers of the same thickness maintain its gas barrier. This stretchable trilayer system has an OTR three times lower than the PEI-MMT bilayer system after stretching. This report marks the first stretchable high gas barrier thin film, which is potentially useful for applications that require pressurized elastomers.

View the Source
Holder, KM; Spears, BR; Huff, ME; Priolo, MA; Harth, E; Grunlan, JC. Macromol. Rapid Commun.201435 (10), 960-964. *This publication is a front cover article.
Published in Macromolecular Rapid Communications 2014