Polyolefin Elastomer Nanocomposites Containing ZnO Nanoparticles, Amine-Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes, and Carbon Black for UV Shielding and Antistatic Coatings

Abstract Polyolefin elastomers (POE) exhibit excellent flexibility, but they are often limited by ultraviolet (UV) aging and static charge accumulation in outdoor service. Traditional modification strategies, which typically involve adding high loading of conductive fillers, frequently result in severe mechanical brittleness. This study reports a solution-phase processing strategy for interface construction, which collaboratively endows POE with excellent UV shielding and anti-static properties. In tetrahydrofuran solvent at 60 °C, the maleic anhydride five-membered heterocyclic group grafted onto the POE chain undergoes ring-opening hydrolysis to generate binary carboxylic acid active sites, forming an interface reaction. The product reacts with aminoated carbon nanotubes (NH2-CNT) and undergoes dissociation and coordination with the surface of nano ZnO to form reversible zinc carboxylate coordination bonds. The results show that when nano ZnO is introduced at a loading of 0.5−2 wt %, the UV shielding efficiency of the composite film in the 250−400 nm wide wavelength range reaches over 84%. Meanwhile, the addition of only 1 wt % carbon filler forms a low-resistance conductive network through one-dimensional tubular structures and zero-dimensional spherical geometric bridging, which reduce the surface resistivity to 1 × 109 Ω/sq (stabilizing at 4 × 1010 Ω/sq after 300 h of humid heat-accelerated aging). Particularly crucially, the reversible coordination bonds act as a sacrificial network that efficiently dissipates concentrated stress during tensile stretching. This mechanism enables the composite material to retain a tensile strength of up to 15.39 MPa and an ultra-high elongation at break of 929.31%, completely breaking the bottleneck of the mutual exclusion of conductivity and high toughness. This study provides a feasible interface design paradigm for the development of performance, mechanically robust, and environmentally tolerant flexible multifunctional photovoltaic protective materials.