Spectroscopic Investigations of Polytetrafluoroethylene – Polyethylene Oxide Blends Filled by Fe₃O₄

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a polymer with very good mechanical properties, outstanding thermal features, and excellent chemical stability. The fluorine atoms disturb the electron distribution resulting in helical conformations of macromolecular chains responsible for four crystalline structures, with the fluorine atoms closely packed around the polymer’s backbone. Polyethylene oxide (PEO) is a semicrystalline polymer with good processability (lower melting temperature and solubility both in water and some organic solvents). The goal of this research is to improve the processability of PTFE while preserving (and if possible increasing) its ferroelectric features. Blends of PTFE-PEO have been obtained starting from water dispersions of PTFE (available from Polysciences) and water solutions of PEO (from Sigma Aldrich). The as-obtained fluid was homogenized by stirring and the solvent was removed by evaporation. Some of the obtained PTFE-PEO homogenized mixtures were loaded by Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (purchased from Nanostructured & Amorphous Materials, Inc.), in a tentative to obtain polymer-based nanocomposites that combine electric and magnetic features. The reported research focuses on the phase composition of PTFE - PEO blends by X-ray diffraction (using Bruker Discovery 8 spectrometer). Complementary data have been obtained by Raman spectroscopy using a Renishaw InVia Confocal Raman Microscope, operating at 785 nm.