title: Uniform distribution of graphene oxide sheets into a poly-vinylidene fluoride nanoparticle matrix through shear-driven aggregation.
abstract: A general methodology has been developed for preparing nanocomposites with uniform, random distribution of fillers in polymer matrices, purely based on intense shear-driven aggregation, while avoiding filler aggregation. This procedure is demonstrated for a binary colloid composed of graphene oxide (GO) sheets and poly-vinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanoparticles (NPs), both negatively charged and stable at rest. On the other hand, the PVDF NPs are shear-active (i.e. aggregation occurs under intensive shear), while the GO sheets are shear-inactive. It is found that when the two suspensions are mixed and the resulting binary colloid is forced to pass through a microchannel (MC) device (at a very high shear rate, G = 1.2 × 10(6) s(-1)), the shear-inactive GO sheets are captured and well distributed inside the PVDF NP clusters or gels. In addition, it is shown that in order to have 100% capture efficiency for the GO sheets, a minimum solid content of the binary colloid is required, which can be identified experimentally as the minimum leading to gelation after passing through the MC only one time.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland. hua.wu@chem.ethz.ch massimo.morbidelli@chem.ethz.ch and School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, 510640, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Xinxin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sheng
authors.affiliation: Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland. hua.wu@chem.ethz.ch massimo.morbidelli@chem.ethz.ch.
authors.forename: Delong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, 510640, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Xinya
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, 510640, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland. hua.wu@chem.ethz.ch massimo.morbidelli@chem.ethz.ch.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland. hua.wu@chem.ethz.ch massimo.morbidelli@chem.ethz.ch.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morbidelli