3.3.2. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)<br>The morphology, expansion of SiHM upon thermal treatment along with the degree of dispersion of SiHM and rGO filler mixture within the EP-rGO:SiHM adhesive formulations were analysed using TEM to corroborate with mechanical and electrical properties. TEM micrographs of pristine SiHM Fig. 3 (a) shows the pristine SiHMs consisting of the dark edge and the light-coloured centre clearly evidences the existence of a shell/core structures with a hollow interior. Different sizes of hollow spheres are distributed with some aggregated clusters and the diameter of the microspheres ranges from 300 nm to 1 μm. However, when the SiHMs were thermally treated at 100 °C (as depicted in Fig. 3 b), the microspheres get expanded comprising ranges of diameter from 400 nm to 2.5 μm. As the SiHM exhibits hollow interior core, it may easily change its shape or become expandable upon heating. Due to the expansion of SiHM, it can effortlessly assist the rGO layers to construct the conductive pathways around them for electron transport. As it can be spotted from Fig. 3(c–e), the epoxy based adhesive systems with different ratio of rGO:SiHM loading showed both SiHM particles (as highlighted by red circles) and rGO layers (as marked by green arrows) evidence good interaction between both the fillers. In the case of EP-30:10 adhesive system (Fig. 3c), as the SiHM are surrounded by rGO layers effectively, the rGO layers can easily construct 3D conductive network (around SiHM particles) for electron transport within the epoxy matrix owing to their lower concentration as compared to other conductive adhesive systems (as discussed in Scheme 3). As shown in Fig. 3 (d) for EP-40:10 system, a few SiHM particles are stacked together and form agglomerated structure whereas other SiHM are encapsulated within the rGO layers seems darker in colour (as indicated by white arrows). In addition, rGO layers are dispersed not only as single sheets but also as aggregated layers as represented by darker portions in the micrographs. The rGO layers and SiHM particles are appear to be entirely immersed in the epoxy matrix and tightly embraced by the resin. However, the rGO concentration is very high in the case of EP-50:10 adhesive formulation, the SiHM are completely embedded within the rGO layers as shown in Fig. 3e. Thus, the possibility of rupture for SiHM particles become dominant as their spherical shape isn't maintained which results in lower tensile strength. Further, more agglomerated structure of rGO layers are obtained in EP-50:10 adhesive system leads to lower degree of increment in electrical conductivity.
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