An Exfoliated Polyamide-6/Layered Double Hydroxide Nanocomposite via <I>In Situ</I> Intercalative Polymerization Between Positively Charged Inorganic Platelets

An exfoliated polyamide 6 (PA6)/layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanocomposite has been successfully prepared via an in situ intercalative polymerization procedure. The original LDH surface is hydrophilic. After an ion exchange reaction of LDH with sodium stearate (SS), the organic anions intercalated into the interlayer space of LDH, adopting a double-layer inclined structure, and the surface of the organic-modified LDH became hydrophobic. An exfoliated PA6/LDH nanocomposite has been obtained via in situ intercalative polymerization. Its microstructure was characterized by a combination of wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and transmission electron microscopic (TEM) techniques. The positively charged inorganic platelets of LDH were dramatically exfoliated and homogeneously dispersed in the PA6 matrix.