How to improve Nafion with tailor made annealing.

A tailor-made annealing procedure was developed for Nafion in order to avoid a critical degradation of the mechanical properties associated with a decrease of the ionic conductivity. The formation of layered morphologies, prevalently oriented in the direction parallel to the membrane surface, is responsible of the decay in fuel cell operation conditions. Nafion membranes are annealed at 140 °C over 7 days in the presence of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) as a proton-acceptor solvent.

Low-Permeability Poly(ether Ether Ketone)-Based Ampholytic Membranes.

Ion-exchange membranes based on sulfonated and sulfaminated poly(ether ether ketone) were prepared by a modified sulfamination route. In a first step, poly(ether ether ketone) was sulfonated. The sulfonic acid groups were then transformed into chlorosulfonic moieties by reaction with thionyl chloride.

Microparticulated systems based on chitosan and poly(vinyl alcohol) with potential ophthalmic applications.

Spherical microparticles for encapsulation of drugs for the treatment of diseases, with a diameter ranging between 2 and 4 µm, were obtained by double crosslinking (ionic and covalent) of chitosan and poly(vinyl alcohol) blend in a water-in-oil emulsion. Microparticles characterisation was carried out in terms of structural, morphological and swelling properties in aqueous media. The presence of chitosan in particles composition confers them a pH-sensitive character.

Sub-micronic capsules based on gelatin and poly(maleic anhydride-alt-vinyl acetate) obtained by interfacial condensation with potential biomedical applications.

New sub-micronic capsules based on a copolymer of maleic anhydride-alt-vinyl acetate and a natural polymer (gelatin) using an interfacial condensation method were obtained. Sub-micronic capsules were characterized by Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), dynamic light scattering (DLS) method, zeta-potential, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The thermal properties were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).

Morphology and thermal properties of PLA-cellulose nanofibers composites.

Biodegradable nanocomposites were obtained from polylactic acid (PLA) and cellulose nanofibers with diameters ranging from 11 nm to 44 nm. The influence of treated (with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane) and untreated nanofibers on the thermal properties of PLA was investigated in detail using multiple session Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) analysis. The nucleating effect of the cellulose nanofibers was confirmed by all the DSC runs (two melting and two crystallization steps).