NANODISPERSE - Dispersion of Functionalized Fullerenes in Polymer Nanocomposites
(EXPL/CTM-POL/0933/2012)

In this project, polymer-fullerene blend systems were studied to understand from a fundamental level their structure-property relationships, using a combination of detailed materials characterization such as Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS), Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (WAXS), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA). The immediate motivation for working with fullerenes comes from the field of photovoltaics where fullerene-polymer mixtures play a critical role in the properties of the devices. However, the results of this work have far wider implications in both fundamental understanding of generic polymer-nanoparticle interactions as well as in other technological applications, such as water purification where the fullerene acts as a catalyst for oxygen excitation.

Publications
1. Gabriel Bernardo, Deb Nabankur, Stephen M. King, David G. Bucknall, "Phase behavior of blends of PCBM with amorphous polymers with different aromaticity", Journal of Polymer Science, Part B: Polymer Physics 54 (2016) 994–1001
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/polb.24002

2. Hugo Gaspar, Paulo Teixeira, Raquel Santos, Liliana Fernandes, Loic Hilliou, Michael P. Weir, Andrew J. Parnell, Kerry J. Abrams, Christopher J. Hill, Wim G. Bouwman, Steven R. Parnell, Stephen M. King, Nigel Clarke, José A. Covas, Gabriel Bernardo, "A Journey Along the Extruder with Polystyrene:C60 Nanocomposites: Convergence of Feeding Formulations into a Similar Nano-Morphology", Macromolecules 50 (2017) 3301–3312
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.6b02283

3. Paulo Pereira, Hugo Gaspar, Liliana Fernandes, Gabriel Bernardo, "Impact of fullerenes on the thermal stability of melt processed polystyrene and poly(methyl methacrylate) composites", Polymer Testing 47 (2015) 130-136
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2015.09.004

4. Paulo Pereira, Liliana Fernandes, Hugo Gaspar, Gabriel Bernardo, "Melt Processed Polyethylene/Fullerene Nanocomposites with Highly Improved Thermo-Oxidative Stability", Polymer Testing 45 (2015) 124–131
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2015.06.002

5. Hugo Gaspar, Liliana Fernandes, Paulo Pereira, Gabriel Bernardo, "Enhanced thermal stability of poly(methyl methacrylate) composites with fullerenes", Polymer Bulletin 72 (2015) 1775-1786
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00289-015-1370-z

6. Liliana Fernandes, Hugo Gaspar, Gabriel Bernardo, "Inhibition of thermal degradation of polystyrene by C60 and PCBM: a comparative study", Polymer Testing 40 (2014) 63-69
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2014.08.010

7. Nadya Dencheva, Hugo Gaspar, Sergej Filonovich, Olga Lavrova, Tito Busani, Gabriel Bernardo, Zlatan Denchev, "Fullerene-Modified Polyamide 6 by In-situ Anionic Polymerization in the Presence of PCBM", Journal of Materials Science 49 (2014) 4751-4764
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10853-014-8174-7



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