Dispersion of Polymers in Metallic Gallium

Vijay Bhooshan Kumar; Aharon Gedanken; David Avnir; Ze'ev Porat

doi:10.1002/cphc.201500899

Dispersion of Polymers in Metallic Gallium

Chemphyschem. 2016 Jan 4;17(1):162-9. doi: 10.1002/cphc.201500899. Epub 2015 Nov 23.

Authors

Vijay Bhooshan Kumar¹, Aharon Gedanken^{2

3}, David Avnir⁴, Ze'ev Porat^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Bar Ilan Institute for Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, Department of Chemistry, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, 52900, Israel), Fax: (+972) 3-7384053.
² Bar Ilan Institute for Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, Department of Chemistry, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, 52900, Israel), Fax: (+972) 3-7384053. Aharon.Gedanken@biu.ac.il.
³ Department of Materials Science & Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 70101, Taiwan. Aharon.Gedanken@biu.ac.il.
⁴ Institute of Chemistry & Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel.
⁵ Division of Chemistry, Nuclear Research Center-Negev, Be'er Sheva, 84190, Israel. poratze@post.bgu.ac.il.
⁶ Institute of Applied Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva, 84105, Israel. poratze@post.bgu.ac.il.

PMID: 26494548
DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201500899

Abstract

This work examines the concept of dispersing polymers in metals. Herein, this was mainly studied with molten gallium, in which 5-18 wt % of various short-chain polymers were incorporated and mixed. The nature of the solidified products was examined by using X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, UV/Vis, differential scanning calorimetry, and thermal gravimetric analyses. It was found that some polymers can be dispersed as small domains within molten metals to form a heterogeneous solid. The ability to dope Ga with large polymers opens a new avenue to electronic materials.

Keywords: gallium; polycaprolactone; polymers; solubilization; sonication.