FT-IR technique is a great tool to identify the functional groups
and trace the chemical interactions among the polymer nanocomposites.
The extent of chemical interactions between TRG and
NR phase was portrayed in Fig. 3 and all the spectral lines were
baseline corrected and normalized. Neat NR shows characteristic
intense peaks at 2916cm−1 and 1596cm−1 which correspond
to CH, C C stretching frequencies of cis 1,4-polyisoprene units.
With the addition of TRG content (3 wt%) to NR, CH peak losses
its intensity and the peak area reduced dramatically. Moreover,
the CH peak of TRG (3 wt%) filled NR shows a slight shift
towards lower frequency as compared to neat NR, and it is
around 2915cm−1. At another instance, the C C peak of NR completely
diminished at 3 wt% of the TRG indicating existence o fstrong – interactions between the electrons of TRG and C C
bonds of isoprene units. In a similar manner, the – interactions
among polybutadiene, multiwalled carbon nanotubes and
pyerene were investigated