No abstract

The use of the coordinated silver (I) complex based on solvate ionic liquid in epoxy resins is reported to enable unprecedented electrical and thermomechanical properties. The novel hybrid material is aligned at the molecular level using an electric field, demonstrating high electrical conductivity, excellent energy storage properties, and rapid curing behavior. The electric-field treated epoxy resin system shows a maximum electric conductivity of 2.05 × 10 5 S m −1 , 20 folds of the same untreated system, and 3 folds of the same treated system but with 5.0% silver nanoparticles. Furthermore, this system shows an ultrafast curing rate of around 500 s at a temperature of 42.0 °C and reveals excellent energy storage achieving an average capacitance of 27.5 F g −1 at a scan rate of 1.0 mV s −1 . Quantum mechanics is applied and the synchrotron beamline is utilized to optimize and investigate the properties of the system, opening the door to the next generation of thermoset polymers with multifunctional properties.

The radical-bearing epoxy monomer could be the ideal embodiment of multifunctionality in epoxy-based materials. This study demonstrates the potential of macroradical epoxies as surface coating materials. A diepoxide monomer derivatized with a stable nitroxide radical is polymerized with a diamine hardener under the influence of a magnetic field. The magnetically oriented and stable radicals in the polymer backbone render the coatings antimicrobial. The unconventional use of magnets during polymerization proved crucial in correlating the structureproperty relationships with antimicrobial performance inferred from oscillatory rheological technique, polarized macro-attenuated total reflectance -infrared (macro-ATR-IR) spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The magnetic thermal curing influenced the surface morphology, resulting in a synergy of the coating's radical nature with microbiostatic performance assessed using the Kirby-Bauer test and liquid chromatography -mass spectroscopy (LC-MS). Further, the magnetic curing of blends with a traditional epoxy monomer demonstrates that radical alignment is more critical than radical density in imparting biocidal behavior. This study shows how the systematic use of magnets during polymerization could pave for probing more significant insights into the mechanism of antimicrobial action in radical-bearing polymers.