Descripción del proyecto
THE PROJECT PROPOSED WILL DEVELOP POLYMER- AND INORGANIC-BASED MULTIFUNCTIONAL NANOSTRUCTURED MATERIALS EMPLOYING ADVANCED SYNTHETIC AND PROCESSING TECHNIQUES IN COMBINATION WITH ROUTINE INDUSTRIAL COMPOUNDING METHODS, THUS PRODUCING NEW MATERIALS APPLICABLE IN ENERGY AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES. THIS APPROACH REQUIRES THAT THE NANOSTRUCTURED CHARACTER OF THE PRECURSOR WILL BE KEPT EVEN FOR CENTIMETER SIZE SAMPLES.IN ORDER TO ATTAIN SUCH OBJECTIVES, SPECIFIC PROCESSING PROCEDURES WILL BE DEVELOPED. IN THIS RESPECT, ONE OF THE PROCESSING ROUTES WILL BE THE SO-CALLED "HIERARCHIC APPROACH" WHICH IS BASED ON THE NUCLEATION OF NANOPARTICLES ON MICROMETER SIZED STRUCTURES, SO THAT THEY ACT AS A SUBSTRATE, BUT ALSO AS CARRIERS. IT IS EASY TO UNDERSTAND THAT THESE ENTITIES ARE A RICH SOURCE FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF MULTIFUNCTIONALITY, E,G, PLASMONIC OPTICAL RESPONSE PLUS MECHANICAL REINFORCEMENT, ETC. THEREFORE, THESE MATERIALS PRESENT, AT LEAST, THREE DIFFERENT CHARACTERISTIC LENGTHS, ONE RELATED TO THE NANOPARTICLE SIZE, ANOTHER CORRESPONDING TO MICROPARTICLES AND FINALLY, THE MACROSCOPIC DIMENSIONS OF THE BULK MATERIAL. ONE OF THE SIGNIFICANT ADVANTAGES OF THIS METHOD IS THAT, ONCE THE NANOPARTICLE IS ATTACHED TO THE MICRO-SIZED CARRIERS, THE PREPARATION OF COMPOSITES, BOTH IN POLYMERIC OR INORGANIC MATRICES, CAN BE DONE BY CONVENTIONAL TECHNIQUES (PRESSING, SLIP CASTING, THERMOFORMING, CONVENTIONAL OR ASSISTED SINTERING, ETC) AND HEALTH RELATED CONCERNS ARE AVOIDED. THE REQUIRED NANO AND MICROPARTICLES WILL BE OBTAINED BY TWO DIFFERENT PROCEDURES:2D. BY PRECIPITATION, DECORATION OR FUNCTIONALIZATION ON THE SURFACE OF THE FOLLOWING PARTICLES: COLLOIDAL SILICA OF TAILORED SIZES IN THE NANO AND MICRO RANGES; SEPIOLITE; CERAMIC POWDERS, SUCH AS ALUMINA, ZIRCONIA, BARIUM TITANATE, FERRITES, ETC; MICRO AND NANOCRISTALLINE CELLULOSE, 3D. EMBEDDED INSIDE THE VOLUME OF MICROPARTICLES, AS IT IS THE CASE OF SEPIOLITE AS A RESULT, THE FOLLOWING MATERIALS WILL BE PREPARED: 1. COMPOSITES FOR ELECTROMAGNETIC APPLICATIONS. IN THIS CATEGORY, BOTH POLYMERIC OR CERAMIC BASED COMPOSITES WILL BE USED. IN THE FIRST CASE, NOBLE OR FERROMAGNETIC METAL NANOPARTICLES WILL BE EMPLOYED FOR PREPARING BULK MATERIALS WITH SPECIFIC OPTICAL RESPONSE, SUCH AS PLASMONIC AND/OR MAGNETO-OPTICAL MATERIALS. IN THE CASE OF CERAMIC MATRIX COMPOSITES, LOW OR NEGATIVE VALUES OF PERMITTIVITY OR MAGNETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY MATERIALS WILL BE PREPARED FOR MICROWAVE OR TERAHERTZ APPLICATIONS.2. POLYMERIC COMPOSITES WITH TRANSPORT PROPERTIES. IN THIS CATEGORY, SEVERAL COMPOSITES, WITH POLYMERIC BASE WILL BE DEVELOPED WITH PROPERTIES RELATED TO MEMBRANE TECHNOLOGY, SUCH AS HYBRID GAS STORAGE MATERIALS OR IONIC EXCHANGE MEMBRANES, POLYMER-BASED SOLID ELECTROLYTES FOR LI ION BATTERIES, TRANSPARENT SUPERHYDROPHOBIC SURFACES WITH SELF-CLEANING AND ANTIFOULING BEHAVIOURS. ALL MATERIALS WILL BE THOROUGHLY CHARACTERIZED: THERMAL STABILITY, ESPECIALLY CRITICAL IN POLYMER BASED MATERIALS, MECHANICAL AND MECHANODYNAMICAL RESPONSES, OPTICAL, DIELECTRIC, MAGNETIC, TRANSPORT MEASUREMENTS ETC. ADDITIONALLY, SPECIFIC SPECTROSCOPIC TECHNIQUES SUCH AS PULSED FIELD GRADIENT-NMR, EPR, FULL RANGE IMPEDANCE SPECTROSCOPY (FROM VERY LOW FREQUENCY TO UV-VIS INCLUDING MICROWAVE, THZ AND INFRARED) WILL BE REQUIRED. ANOCOMPUESTOS\TRANSPORTE DE GASES\ELECTROLITOS SOLIDOS\MATERIALES DISIPATIVOS\MAGNETO-OPTICA\SUPERHIDROFOBIA\PLASMONICA\CERAMICA\HIBRIDOS\POLIMEROS