Enhanced mechanical and thermal properties of hybrid SnO2-woven carbon fiber composites using the facile controlled growth method

Abstract

Tin oxide (SnO2) nanorods (NRs) were successfully grown using a two-step seed-mediated hydrothermal method in the absence of surfactants. The enhanced mechanical properties of the impact absorbed energy (71.65%), ultimate tensile strength (35.07%), in-plane shear strength (49.07%) and elastic modulus (44.15%) were obtained for 70 mM of SnO2-woven carbon fiber (WCF) composites. The higher electrical resistive heating in the interlaminar region of electrified SnO2 (70 mM)-WCF composite sheets was observed at 108.92% improvement of an average temperature under an applied current of 3 A for 20 min. It was attributed to the fact that a higher SnO2 NR content provided secondary reinforcement and subsidiary electrified heat traps by modifying the interphase region between the CFs and polymers. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to examine the morphology and phase structure of one-dimensional (1D) grown SnO2 NR arrays. The crystalline 1D SnO2 nanostructure evolved via a self-assembly mechanism that depended on nuclei of Sn4+/OH- ions in a supersaturated solution at a pH of about 13. This facile controlled growth of SnO2 embedded in CF composites is relevant to engineering applications requiring higher mechanical performance and thermal heating than attainable with conventional CF-reinforced polymer composites.