Experimental study reveals enhanced vulcanization and UV resistance in natural rubber using sulfur quantum dots, highlighting potential uses in flexible electronics.
Incorporating sulfur quantum dots (SQDs) into natural rubber (NR) latex produces eco-friendly nanocomposites with enhanced UV resistance. SQDs simultaneously function as nanovulcanizing agents, UV blockers, and fluorescence enhancers. The nanocomposite containing 3 phr SQDs (N-3) exhibited a tensile strength of 2.23 MPa and an elongation at break of 1221.31%, attributed to a continuous cross-linked network formed via sulfur radical reactions (cross-link density: 116.50 × 10 –4 mol cm –3 ). After 72 h of UV exposure, N-3 retained 74% of its initial tensile strength, markedly outperforming pure NR. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirmed the radical-trapping mechanism of SQDs, with an alkyl radical binding energy of 88.26 kcal mol –1 . Furthermore, SQDs/NR-based triboelectric nanogenerators (S-TENGs) achieved high electrical output (48.01 V, 0.52 mW m –2 ), enabling self-powered biomechanical monitoring. This work advances the understanding of SQDs’ role in rubber vulcanization and antiaging and promotes their application in high-performance elastomers, flexible electronics, and energy harvesting.
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Ruan et al. (2025) studied this question.
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