Hybrid materials: dispersion and organisation of nanoparticles in polymer matrices

这项研究计划涉及通过在聚合物基质中掺入纳米颗粒来研究新的功能材料。 将研究各种系统，包括由无机盐、金属和聚合物组成的纳米颗粒。 选择这些不同的粒子是因为它们表现出各种有趣的性质。 例如，将制备发光和磁性纳米颗粒。 为了从这些纳米颗粒中获得可加工的材料，它们将嵌入聚合物膜中。 因此，开发促进无机和金属颗粒在有机介质中分散的方法是这项工作的主要挑战之一。 为了实现这一目标，提出了几种策略，用于将有机涂层引入到不同颗粒的表面上。研究的第二个重要目标是开发允许控制颗粒空间分布的方法。 这一点很重要，因为纳米颗粒系统的特性通常不仅取决于组成颗粒的性质，还取决于它们的组织方式。 纳米粒子组织的几种方法将被考虑，包括表面上的静电组装，磁性组装和通过使用光聚合物的光学操作。

This research proposal involves the study of new functional materials through the incorporation of nanoparticles in polymer matrices.  A variety of systems will be investigated, including nanoparticles composed of inorganic salts, metals, and polymers.  These different particles have been selected because of the variety of interesting properties that they exhibit.  For example, luminescence and magnetic nanoparticles will be prepared.  In order to obtain processable materials from these nanoparticles, they will be embedded in polymer films.  The development of methods to facilitate the dispersion of inorganic and metallic particles in organic media therefore constitutes one of the principal challenges of the work.  To achieve this, several strategies for the introduction of organic coatings onto the surfaces of the different particles are proposed. A second important goal of the research is the development of methods permitting the spatial distribution of the particles to be controlled.  This is important because the proprieties of nanoparticle systems often depend not only on the nature of the constituent particles, but also on the manner in which they are organised.   Several methods of nanoparticle organisation will be considered, including electrostatic assembly on surfaces, magnetic assembly and optical manipulation through the use of photopolymers.