Appendix: Interphase Dimension Measurement Via AFM
169
Fig. A4 Relationship between surface area of outer interface (SA outer Interphase ) and NBC/interphase
volume (V NBC/Interphase ) in PVA/NBC bionanocomposites [1]
Eq. (A5). In case of PVA/NBC bionanocomposite system, Eq. (A9) can be
rewritten to calculate interphase and NBC volume V NBC/Interphase as well as NBC
volume V NBC in case of fully and partially embedded NBCs by rearranging the
following equations:
(SA outer Interface ) f = e 1 V
f 1
NBC/Interphase
(A10)
(SA outer Interface ) p = e 2 V
f 2
NBC/Interphase-effective
(A11)
(SA inner Interface ) f = e 3 V
f 3
NBC
(A12)
(SA inner Interface ) p = e 4 V
f 4
NBC-effective
(A13)
e 1 , f 1 , e 2 , f 2 , e 3 , f 3 and e 4 , f 4 are the constants determined using curving fitting.
For example, the constants of e 1 and f 1 were estimated to be 0.3824 and 0.3825,
respectively, with R
2
= ~0.995, as depicted in Fig. A4. Such an estimation was
achieved by fitting Eq. (A10) with the data set of V NBC/Interphase being obtained
from the AFM measurement.