Effect of nano sized transition metal salts and metals on thermal decomposition behavior of polyvinyl alcohol

Abstract

A number of nanocomposites have been synthesized biomimetically by embedding various transition metal salts in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as the preorganised matrix. The metal salts were reduced to metallic form using aqueous sodium borohydride solution. In the present paper, very comprehensive studies on thermal decomposition behavior of these composites have been carried out using thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetric studies. The transition metal salts/metals based composites exhibit increased thermal stability as indicated by shift in the decomposition temperature of pure PVA. The DSC data show increase in glass transition temperature of all composites, except the one containing iron, in comparison with neat PVA.The improvement in the thermal stability is explained in terms of decrease in the segmental mobility of polymer chains due to entrapment of metal salt / metal forming a complex with the hydroxyl group of the polymer chains and thus decreasing heat transfer process for decomposition of polymer composites. © 2013 VBRI press.