Multifunctional behavior of POSS-reinforced imidazole core polyimide nanocomposites

A new imidazole core unsymmetrical diamine monomer (4, 4 ' (4, 5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-1, 2-diyl) dianiline) was successfully synthesized and used as precursor to develop polyimide (PI). In addition, different weight percentages of octaaminophenyl silsesquioxane (NH2-POSS) were reinforced to form, respective, POSS-PI nanocomposites. The formation of polyimides and composites was confirmed by various spectral analyses in addition to their morphology studies by scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscope. Further, the developed neat PI and POSS-PI nanocomposites were studied for their thermal, optical, dielectric and antimicrobial properties. Data resulted from different studies indicated that the incorporation of 10 wt% NH2-POSS into the PI matrix show higher glass transition temperature, higher thermal stability and better UV shielding behavior when compared to the neat PI matrix as well as other POSS-PI composites. Dielectric studies infer that the value of dielectric constant was decreased with increasing the weight percentages of NH2-POSS reinforcement and the lowest value of dielectric constant (k = 2.1) was obtained for 10 wt% POSS-PI hybrid nanocomposites in addition to its better antimicrobial behavior. Thus, the current study promises that the developed PI and POSS-PI can be used as a multifunctional composite in various high-performance applications.