Effect of TiO on Thermal, Mechanical, and Gas Separation Performances of Polyetherimide-Polyvinyl Acetate Blend Membranes.

Blend membranes consisting of two polymer pairs improve gas separation, but compromise mechanical and thermal properties. To address this, incorporating titanium dioxide (TiO) nanoparticles has been suggested, to enhance interactions between polymer phases. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the impact of TiO as a filler on the thermal, surface mechanical, as well as gas separation properties of blend membranes.

Blend membranes comprising polyetherimide and polyvinyl acetate with improved methane enrichment performance.

A clean and sustainable energy source, biogas is widely accessible worldwide. The caloric value of biogas is related to its methane content, and therefore removal of other gases is essential for reaping the benefits of this cleaner resource. In contrast to other classical techniques, membrane technology is relatively new yet extremely promising for methane enrichment.

Early stages of polycrystalline diamond deposition: laser reflectance at substrates with growing nanodiamonds.

The chemical vapor deposition of polycrystalline diamond (PCD) films is typically done on substrates seeded with diamond nanoparticles. Specular laser reflectance has been used in tandem with a continuous film model to monitor the thickness of these films during their deposition. However, approaches to gain information on properties that strongly affect film morphology, such as the areal density of seeds, remain largely unexplored.

Block copolymer-nanodiamond coassembly in solution: towards multifunctional hybrid materials.

Polymer-nanodiamond composites are excellent candidates for the fabrication of multifunctional hybrid materials. They integrate polymer flexibility and exceptional properties of nanodiamonds (NDs), such as biocompatibility, mechanical strength, color centers, and chemically-tailored surfaces. However, their development is hindered by the challenge of ensuring that NDs are homogeneously distributed in the composites.

Entropic factors and structural motifs of triblock-terpolymer-based patchy nanoparticles.

A prevalent strategy for synthesizing patchy nanoparticles is through the self-assembly of triblock terpolymers in selective solvents. Since the thermodynamic and kinetic factors that govern the morphology of the particles produced in this way are not fully understood, this strategy usually demands trial-and-error methodologies. We investigate the fundamental mechanisms that produce multiple types of patchy nanoparticles and identify the conditions needed to program the shapes of the nanoparticles and predict their assembly.

Functionalized Nanochannels from Self-Assembled and Photomodified Poly(Styrene-b-Butadiene-b-Styrene).

Membranes are prepared by self-assembly and casting of 5 and 13 wt% poly(styrene-b-butadiene-b-styrene) (PS-b-PB-b-PS) copolymers solutions in different solvents, followed by immersion in water or ethanol. By controlling the solution-casting gap, porous films of 50 and 1 µm thickness are obtained. A gradient of increasing pore size is generated as the distance from the surface increased.

Membranes prepared by self-assembly and chelation assisted phase inversion.

We combine self-assembly in solution, complexation with metallic salts and phase separation induced by solvent-non-solvent exchange to prepare nanostructured membranes for separation in the nanofiltration range. This method was applied to prepare membranes from newly synthesized poly(acrylic acid)-b-polysulfone-b-poly(acrylic acid) copolymers dissolved in a selective solvent mixture and immersed in aqueous Cu or Ag solutions.