Qi Zhang, Ge Yu, Xiaoping Gao, Peng Li, Ze Lin, Ruilong Li, Yuen Wu
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Reducing the amount of zinc oxide (ZnO) is a continuous pursuit of the rubber industry because of the high cost and environmental pollution of Zn. However, reducing the amount of ZnO will inevitably lead to a decrease in the crosslinking density and the loss of mechanical properties of rubber; thus, this remains a huge challenge. Herein, we prepared Zn single-atoms supported on graphene oxide (Zn SAs@GO) as controlled-release catalysts for effective rubber vulcanization, which can improve the crosslinking density and mechanical properties of rubber by reducing Zn dosage compared to commercial ZnO by 82.5%. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) analysis reveals that Zn–O bond is 2.03 Å in Zn SAs@GO, which possesses moderate Zn–O binding energy. Thus Zn2+ ions can be controlled-release and participate in the vulcanization reaction with higher activity. Moreover, due to the homogeneous dispersion of Zn atoms in Zn SAs@GO, zinc catalysts were fully utilized during the vulcanization process, resulting in a 6.6% increase in crosslinking density of the prepared vulcanized rubber compared to that of commercial ZnO. This work contributes to the development of large-scale preparation for SACs and potentially pave the way for their applications in industrial rubber manufacture.
期刊介绍:
Science China Materials (SCM) is a globally peer-reviewed journal that covers all facets of materials science. It is supervised by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and co-sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The journal is jointly published monthly in both printed and electronic forms by Science China Press and Springer. The aim of SCM is to encourage communication of high-quality, innovative research results at the cutting-edge interface of materials science with chemistry, physics, biology, and engineering. It focuses on breakthroughs from around the world and aims to become a world-leading academic journal for materials science.