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  • Eva Campo
    University of Pennsylvania
  • Douglas Yates
    University of Pennsylvania
  • Benjamin Berson
    University of Pennsylvania
  • Wudmir Rojas
  • Allen Winter
  • Mohan Ananth
    Zeiss Microscopy
  • Jorge J. Santiago-Aviles
    University of Pennsylvania
  • Eugene M. Terentjev
    Cambridge University
Multimodal focused ion beam (FIB) imaging on a polydimethylsiloxane/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) electrospun composite has been applied to discriminate the phase-separated polymer blend and identify MWCNT fillers. Upon tomographic reconstruction, this discrimination has been possible through both atomic number and voltage contrast, the latter being enabled by preferential MWCNT segregation to PMMA. This study suggests that electrospinning could be affecting not only MWCNT alignment but also phase separation dynamics of immiscible polymers, yielding a porous structure throughout the fibers. This work opens the door to correlative materials science in polymer nanocomposites through FIB tomography, where voltage contrast is a main actor.
Original languageEnglish
Article number1600479
JournalMacromolecular Materials and Engineering
Volume302
Issue number8
Early online date20 Jan 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2017

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