Search results for " COMPOSITES"
showing 10 items of 1620 documents
Chemistry of two-dimensional pnictogens: emerging post-graphene materials for advanced applications
2023
The layered allotropes of group 15 (P, As, Sb and Bi), also called two-dimensional (2D) pnictogens, have emerged as one of the most promising families of post-graphene 2D-materials. This is mainly due to the great variety of properties they exhibit, including layer-dependent bandgap, high charge-carrier mobility and current on/off ratios, strong spin-orbit coupling, wide allotropic diversity and pronounced chemical reactivity. These are key ingredients for exciting applications in (opto)electronics, heterogeneous catalysis, nanomedicine or energy storage and conversion, to name a few. However, there are still many challenges to overcome in order to fully understand their properties and brin…
Sintering process of amorphous SiO2 nanoparticles investigated by AFM, IR and Raman techniques
2011
We report an experimental investigation on the effects of thermal treatments at different temperatures (room-1270 K) and for different duration (0-75 h) on amorphous silica nanoparticles (fumed silica) in powder tablet form. Three types of fumed silica are considered, comprising nearly spherical particles of 40 nm, 14 nm and 7 nm mean diameter. The experimental techniques used here are Raman and infrared absorption (IR) spectroscopy together with atomic force microscopy (AFM). Raman and IR spectra indicate that the structure of nanometer silica particles is significantly different with respect to that of a bulk silica glass. In particular, the main differences regard the positions of the IR…
Pressure stability field of Mg-perovskite under deep mantle conditions: A topological approach based on Bader's analysis coupled with catastrophe the…
2019
Abstract The pressure stability field of the Mg-perovskite phase was investigated by characterizing the evolution of the electron arrangement in the crystal. Ab initio calculations of the perovskite structures in the range 0–185 GPa were performed at the HF/DFT (Hartree-Fock/Density Functional Theory) exchange–correlation terms level. The electron densities, calculated throughout the ab-initio wave functions, were analysed by means of the Bader's theory, coupled with Thom's catastrophe theory. To the best of our knowledge the approach is used for the first time. The topological results show the occurrence of two topological anomalies at P~20 GPa and P~110 GPa which delineate the pressure ra…
High-performance thermoplastic elastomers/carbon nanotubes nanocomposites: Mechanical behavior, rheology, and durability
2015
Advanced polystyrene-b-polybutadiene-b-polystyrene (SBS) based nanocomposites containing bare carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and CNTs bearing hydroxyl functional groups (CNTs-OH) have been formulated and fully characterized. In particular, the reinforcement effect of CNTs and CNTs-OH on SBS was deeply investigated through mechanical and dynamical thermo-mechanical analysis and the rheological response of SBS-based nanocomposites was investigated and discussed. The mechanical properties of SBS/CNTs and even more of SBS/CNTs-OH nanocomposites are substantially superior to those of neat SBS, due to the uniformly dispersed nanofillers throughout the polymeric matrix. The presence of -OH groups onto CN…
1,2,4-Triazolium ions as flexible scaffolds for the construction of polyphilic ionic liquid crystals
2018
A novel scaffold for the construction of self-organised ionic liquids and ionic liquid crystals bearing both perfluorocarbon and hydrocarbon moieties has been developed. The phase behaviour and physical properties of these materials can be tuned as a function of chain length and fluorine content and significant structural elaboration is possible, giving a highly flexible system.
Tuning the photocatalytic activity of bismuth wolframate: Towards selective oxidations for the biorefinery driven by solar-light
2017
The sol–gel entrapment of nanostructured Bi2WO6 enhances the activity and the selectivity of the short-gap semiconductor in the sunlight-driven photo-oxidation of trans-ferulic and trans-cinnamic acid dissolved in water with air as the primary oxidant. Valuable products such as vanillin, benzaldehyde, benzoic acid and vanillic acid are obtained. This provides the proof of concept that photocatalysis could be a promising technology in tomorrow's solar biorefineries.
Spectral properties and lifetime of green emission in γ-ray irradiated bismuth-doped silica photonic crystal fibers
2018
Abstract We report an experimental investigation focused on the green emission detected in γ-ray irradiated Bismuth-doped photonic crystal fibers. Our photoluminescence spectra, recorded at room temperature, provide evidence for the presence of two emission bands both located at ~ 530 nm (2.34 eV). One emission is detected only in the Bi-doped core while the other, is detected in the cladding. These two emissions feature different excitation spectra and a fast and a slow decay lifetime. The origin of the fast emission decay, about ten nanoseconds, is tentatively attributed to a silica intrinsic defect, whereas the slow component, having lifetime of about 2 μs and featuring anti-stokes emiss…
The formation of silica high temperature polymorphs from quartz: Influence of grain size and mineralising agents
2015
Abstract The formation of high-temperature silica polymorphs in presence of Na and K has been studied at various temperatures and soaking times, starting from quartzes of different grain size, ex situ as well as in situ. The results show that cristobalite and tridymite formation is strongly influenced by the nature and the amount of mineraliser added. In particular, K seems to discriminate more between the two structures, as it produces the largest observed amount of cristobalite. The disappearance of quartz can be controlled by the proper combination of mineraliser/temperature/time, which in turn control the amount and the type of polymorph formed, together with the amount of amorphous mat…
Structural and luminescence properties of amorphous SiO2 nanoparticles
2011
We report an experimental study on the photoluminescence band peaked at 2.7 eV (blue band) induced by thermal treatments in nanometric amorphous SiO 2. In particular the emission dependence on the nanometric particles size as a function of their mean diameter from 7 nm up to 40 nm is investigated. We found that the emission amplitude increases on decreasing the particle diameter, showing a strong correlation between the blue band and the nanometric nature of the particles. By Raman spectroscopy measurements it is evidenced that the SiO2 nanoparticles matrix is significantly affected by the reduction of size. Basing on the shell-like model, these findings are interpreted assuming that the de…
Poly-l-Lactic Acid Nanofiber-Polyamidoamine Hydrogel Composites: Preparation, Properties, and Preliminary Evaluation as Scaffolds for Human Pluripote…
2016
Electrospun poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) nanofiber mats carrying surface amine groups, previously introduced by nitrogen atmospheric pressure nonequilibrium plasma, are embedded into aqueous solutions of oligomeric acrylamide-end capped AGMA1, a biocompatible polyamidoamine with arg-gly-asp (RGD)-reminiscent repeating units. The resultant mixture is finally cured giving PLLA-AGMA1 hydrogel composites that absorb large amounts of water and, in the swollen state, are translucent, soft, and pliable, yet as strong as the parent PLLA mat. They do not split apart from each other when swollen in water and remain highly flexible and resistant, since the hydrogel portion is covalently grafted onto the …