Forced Assembly of Multilayered Films Using Polymer Gels

Multilayered polymer films are widely used in the packaging industry to meet specific end-use due to their high mechanical durability. Forced assembly is a process in which the particles are forced to form an organized structure. Multilayered polymer films are widely fabricated using the melt spinning process, which is highly suitable for thermoplastic polymers. Therefore, this mechanism limits the choices of polymers and hence limits its extension into other industries. In our study, we have explored the use of polymer gels using forced assembly mechanism for multilayered film fabrication and solvent-induced phase change and frontal polymerization techniques for solidifying the gels. The use of polymer gels allows for film fabrication using both natural and synthetic polymers and for nanoparticle dispersion, which improves the mechanical and thermal properties of layer interphase creating unique properties for the film depending upon the choice of the polymer. With the functionalization of the nanoparticles, the electrical and sensing properties can also be improved, which is widely useful for biosensing and magnetic resonance sensing in the biomedical industry. The alternating nanosized layers with nanoparticle additives makes these films suitable for high-quality face mask and filtration fabric fabrication. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) gels and PVA – carbon nanotube (CNT) dispersed gel was chosen for demonstrating the mechanism of multilayered film fabrication.