RESUMO
The enhancement of the capillarity fabrication of well-ordered two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) opal photonic crystal is described herein. The quality enhancement and the reduction of the fabrication time are improved by using core@soft adhesive shell (Silica@PolyButylAcrylate) particles dispersed in an organic solvent with a high boiling point. The hybridization by an elastomeric corona polymer, grafted from the SiO(2) surface, has offered adhesive properties naturally tunable by changing the polymer state from a solvated to a dry one. Such properties involve drastic changes of the self-assembly behavior and qualities. Their use, as elementary building blocks, for colloidal crystal fabrication have required a high withdrawal rate (up to 4000 µm s(-1)), i.e. involving a three order of magnitude reduction in time compared to a classic vertical deposition method (1 to 10 µm s(-1)) and a good control/prediction of the coating thickness can be tuned by varying the withdrawal rate and the particle concentration. In addition, an analysis of the 2D synthetic iridescence of the hybrid photonic crystal was performed under white light, revealing the adhesive shell bridge influence on the dissipation energy of cracks linked to the crystal quality and the photonic properties.
RESUMO
Intrinsically conducting polymers are of great interest for a large number of applications. But among the major drawbacks are their low solubility in common solvents and their poor mechanical properties. Elaboration of composites associating a matrix, bringing its mechanical properties, and polyaniline, as the conducting polymer, is a way of overcoming these disadvantages. Chitosan-graft-polyaniline copolymers were synthesized by simple oxidative method. The grafting reaction was quite complete, and it was found that the copolymers cross-linked to yield a composite hydrogel in which the polyaniline was homogeneously embedded. The conductivity of precursor (block copolymer) and gels was found to be larger than 10(-2) S x cm(-1). The composite gels were characterized in terms of swelling and rheological properties. They can be classified as "superabsorbent" hydrogels, and the swelling is reversible. The composite gels were then successfully used as actuators.
