Preparation of Low-Density Polyethylene Composite with Copper Nanoparticles

In this work, devoted to the preparation and study of the properties of copper-containing nanocomposites based on linear low density polyethylene, it is shown that the composition of the resulting nanocomposite is not complicated by phase transformations during its synthesis. Varying the concentration of copper (II) formate (1.2÷50.8 wt%) makes it possible to control the size of the formed nanoparticles (10.2±2.0÷ 21.3±1,5 nm). It has been shown that the presence of Cu nanoparticles in a polymer matrix leads to a decrease in its degree of crystallinity - the value decreases from 42% for polyethylene to 37% for 3Cu / LLDPE, which is due to the restriction of the free movement of polymer chain segments by metal nanoparticles and, accordingly, the formation of a less ordered crystal structure.