Advanced Polymer Systems for Defence Applications: Power Generation, Protection and Sensing

Abstract

Synthesis of Robust Nanoporous All-Polymer Aerogels as Multifunctional Materials: Demonstrated extremely strong aerogels with polyureas, polyimides, polyamides (KevlarTM-like), polybenzoxazines, poly(acrylonitrile-co-diacrylate), as well as polynorbornene and polydicyclopentadiene. Development and Self-Assembly of Multifunctional Inorganic-Polymer Hybrid Materials for Solar Energy Applications: Demonstrated convenient synthesis of various semiconducting nanoparticles, studied functionalized polyoxometalates (POMs), and developed novel conjugated systems with foldamers and dendrimers. Processing and Mechanical Characterization of Polyurea Aerogels: Polyurea (PUA) aerogels were proven to be mechanically strong, especially in terms of strength to weight. PUA aerogels can take extreme loads under compression. Cost-Effective Synthesis of Vanadia Aerogels and Derivatives for Applications in Thermochromics, Energy Storage and Ballistics: We have successfully fabricated vanadium oxide (VOx) aerogels using VOCl3 instead of VO(OPr)3, at a significantly reduced cost. Gels produced with this precursor have a nanoworm micromorphology identical to those fabricated using the alkoxide. Flame Synthesis of VOx and ZnO Nanoparticles: The goal was to use a flame process to make metal oxide nanoparticles with unique morphology and to explore their conversion to hard nanoporous materials. Development and Study of Amine Sensors Based on Metal Nanoparticle-Doped Polyaniline: The major part of this work was in the development and understanding of sensors made in a one-step green process. Regioselective Cross-Linking of Silica Aerogels with Magnesium Silicate Ceramics: The VCU team developed a fabrication method, which allows one to mechanically reinforce aerogels ithout compromising their porosity since the core retains the characteristics of native aerogels.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 2014
Accession Number
ADA614979

Entities

People

  • Chariklia Sotiriou-leventis
  • Frank Blum
  • Jeffrey Winiarz
  • Lokeswarappa Dharani
  • Massimo Bertino
  • Nicholas Leventis
  • Yangchuan Xing
  • Zhonghua Peng

Organizations

  • Missouri University of Science and Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Chemical Engineering
  • Chemical Synthesis
  • Chemistry
  • Materials
  • Materials Laboratories
  • Materials Processing
  • Materials Science
  • Materials Testing
  • Mechanical Working
  • Metallic Nanoparticles
  • Nanocomposites
  • Nanotechnology
  • Optical Properties
  • Organic Chemistry

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Nanocomposite Materials Science
  • Polymer Science and Technology

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology