Facile fabrication of POSS-Modified MoS2/PMMA nanocomposites with enhanced thermal, mechanical and optical limiting properties

A facile strategy was applied to transfer chemically exfoliated molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) nanosheets from aqueous medium to organic solvents. The MoS2 nanosheets were then modified by trisilanol-phenyl-POSS (T7POSS) which was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Powder X-Ray Diffraction (PXRD). The modified MoS2 nanosheets were then incorporated into poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) via a simple solution blending method. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Transmission electron microscope (TEM) were employed to demonstrate the well-dispersion of nanosheets in polymeric matrix. Compared to neat PMMA, the decomposition temperatures (T-d) and the half weight decomposition temperatures (T-half) of POSS-MoS2/PMMA nanocomposites at nanosheets concentration of 0.2 wt% were dramatically increased by 35.2 degrees C and 35.3 degrees C, respectively. Meanwhile, according to the measurements of Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA), the storage modulus at 30 degrees C is significantly improved by 5.2 times and the glass transition temperature (T-g) is also enhanced by 6.2 degrees C. Remarkably, POSS-MoS2/PMMA nanocomposites possess low optical limiting differential transmittance T-c (0.5%), low nonlinear optical absorption onset threshold F-ON (0.02 J.cm(-2)), low optical limiting threshold F-OL (0.4 J.cm(-2)) and high nonlinear coefficient beta (297.cm GW(-1)), highlighting their vast potential in the development of solid-state optical limiting materials.