Search results for "Polymers."

Improvement of mechanical and dielectric properties of ethylene–octene copolymer by multi‐walled carbon nanotubes functionalized with poly(2,2′‐bithi…

2019

Influence of plasticizers and cryogenic grinding on the high-cooling-rate solidification behavior of PBT/PET blends

2015

Two structurally different plasticizers (cyclic and linear) and the effect of cryogenic grinding on the solidification behavior at high cooling rates by a continuous cooling transformation approach of poly(butylene terephthalate)/poly(ethylene terephthalate), PBT/PET, blends are described. The solidification curve (density versus cooling rate) is confirmed as an effective tool to compare the differences in crystallization behavior under conditions mimicking processing. In comparison to the bulky cyclic plasticizer, the linear oligomeric one was found to have a more pronounced influence on the crystallization behavior. A 60/40 by weight PBT/PET blend shows a drop-off of density at ∼50 K/s. I…

Ethylene/POSS copolymerization behavior of postmetallocene catalysts and copolymer characteristics

2017

Copolymerization of ethylene with iso-butyl substituted monoalkenyl(siloxy)- or monoalkenylsilsesquioxane (POSS) comonomers over bis(phenoxy-imine) and salen-type titanium and zirconium catalysts was studied. It was found that the polyreaction performance was significantly depended by the kind of the catalyst and by the structure and concentration of POSS in the feed. The POSS comonomer was efficiently incorporated into the polymer chain at up to 0.2 mol %. The differences in the copolymer compositions as the functions of the catalyst kind and the POSS comonomer were observed, including the varied number-average sequence length of ethylene and unsaturated end groups, as determined by 1H NMR…

Delamination of 2D coordination polymers : the role of solvent and ultrasound

2019

Two novel cadmium-based 2D coordination polymers have been synthesized and characterized. Experimental results evidence that the best delamination processes occurs when weak interactions dominate the cohesion between layers and solvent molecules are occluded within the crystalline network. In this case, the delamination of the crystals occurs spontaneously in water. On top of that, and thanks to the high stability of the resulting (flake) colloidal dispersions, we have completed a detailed study of the sonication assisted delamination impact by: I) comparison of two different sonication approaches (bath vs. tip sonication) and II) optimization of final flake morphology and yield by controll…

Multi-scale structural analysis of xyloglucan colloidal dispersions and hydro-alcoholic gels

2020

Xyloglucans are highly branched, hydroxyl rich polyglucans that for their abundance in nature, biocompatibility, film forming and gelation ability may take a prominent role in the design and fabrication of biomedical devices, including in situ forming scaffolds for tissue engineering, wound dressings and epidermal sensors. The understanding and exploitation of their self-assembly behavior is key for the device performance optimization. A multi-scale analysis, conducted combining small-angle X-ray scattering, both static and dynamic light scattering at large and small angles, and rheological measurements, provides a description of the supramolecular organization of this biopolymer, from the …

Rapid One-Step Fabrication of Graphene Oxide-Decorated Polycaprolactone Three-Dimensional Templates for Water Treatment

2020

Coating of flexible substrates is crucial to prepare versatile, multifunctional materials. However, exploration of effective fabrication approaches is still a challenging issue, because the pathways generally proposed require time-consuming, multistep protocols. Here, we developed a one-pot process for decorating either pearl necklace-like or fibrous fluffy-like structures of polycaprolactone (PCL) with graphene oxide (GO) skin. PCL solutions were dry jet-wet electrosprayed or electrospun into a stirred liquid collector constituted by ethanol-containing GO nanoparticles. The stirred liquid collector enables the formation of 3D-structures, whose microarchitecture can be designed by controlli…

Smart composite films of nanometric thickness based on copper-iodine coordination polymers. Toward sensors.

2018

One-pot reactions between CuI and methyl or methyl 2-amino-isonicotinate give rise to the formation of two coordination polymers (CPs) based on double zig-zag Cu2I2 chains. The presence of a NH2 group in the isonicotinate ligand produces different supramolecular interactions affecting the Cu-Cu distances and symmetry of the Cu2I2 chains. These structural variations significantly modulate their physical properties. Thus, both CPs are semiconductors and also show reversible thermo/mechanoluminescence. X-ray diffraction studies carried out under different temperature and pressure conditions in combination with theoretical calculations have been used to rationalize the multi-stimuli-responsive …

Curvature as a Guiding Field for Patterns in Thin Block Copolymer Films

2018

Experimental data on thin films of cylinder-forming block copolymers (BC)—free-standing BCmembranes as well as supported BC films—strongly suggest that the local orientation of the BC patternsis coupled to the geometry in which the patterns are embedded. We analyze this phenomenon using generalsymmetry considerations and numerical self-consistent field studies of curved BC films in cylindricalgeometry. The stability of the films against curvature-induced dewetting is also analyzed. In goodagreement with experiments, we find that the BC cylinders tend to align along the direction of curvature athigh curvatures. At low curvatures, we identify a transition from perpendicular to parallel alignm…

New concepts and applications in macromolecular chemistry of fullerenes

2010

A new classification on the different types of fullerene-containing polymers is presented according to their different properties and applications they exhibit in a variety of fields. Because of their interest and novelty, water-soluble and biodegradable C(60)-polymers are discussed first, followed by polyfullerene-based membranes where unprecedented supramolecular structures are presented. Next are compounds that involve hybrid materials formed from fullerenes and other components such as silica, DNA, and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) where the most recent advances have been achieved. A most relevant topic is still that of C(60)-based donor-acceptor (D-A) polymers. Since their application in pho…

Enhanced power-conversion efficiency in organic solar cells incorporating copolymeric phase-separation modulators

2018

A new class of copolymers containing oligothiophene moieties with different lengths and fullerene units have been designed and prepared by an easy and inexpensive one-step synthetic approach. The incorporation of small quantities of these copolymers into bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells with donor regioregular polythiophene (P3HT) and an acceptor fullerene derivate (PCBM) results in good control of the phase separation process without further affecting the BHJ optoelectronic properties. Indeed, under thermal annealing these copolymers allow the modulation of the growth of domains whose size depends on the length of the copolymer repetitive units. Domain size on the same length scale as…