Sub-Micron/Nano-Scale Polymorphs of Molybdenum Oxide with Tuned Structural and Morphological Features Embedded in Engineering Thermoplastic

摘要

A novel protocol of polymer-inorganic solid-solid reaction technique for the in-situ synthesis of molybdenum oxide polymorphs entrapped within an engineering thermoplastic viz. polyphenylenesulphide (PPS) is reported here. The molybdenum hexacarbonyl was homogeneously admixed with PPS in the molar ratio of 1:1 followed by heating at the melting temperature of the polymer (285 ℃) for predetermined time intervals. Phase identification revealed formation of orthorhombic MoO_3 as major phase and monoclinic Mo_8O_(23) as minor phase depending upon the reaction conditions. The morphology of the resultant products revealed evolution of rod like, brick like and reverse L-shaped sub-miconanopolymorphs of molybdenum oxides entrapped in PPS matrix. Such submicronano polymorphs based composites can be explored for fabrication of advanced devices and systems operating at moderately high temperature such as gas sensors, capacitors etc.