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- High deformation multifunctional composites: materials, processes, and applicationsPublication . Costa, Pedro; Nunes-Pereira, João; Rial Tubio, Carmen; Dios, Jose Ramón; Lanceros-Mendez, SenentxuStructural health monitoring (SHM) is a nondestructive process of collecting and analyzing data from structures to evaluate their conditions and predict the remaining lifetime. Multifunctional sensors are increasingly used in smart structures to self-sense and monitor the damages through the measurements of electrical resistivity of composite materials. Polymer-based sensors possess exceptional properties for SHM applications, such as low cost and simple processing, durability, flexibility, and excellent piezoresistive sensitivity. Thermoplastics, thermoplastic elastomers, and elastomer matrices can be combined with conductive nanofillers to develop piezoresistive sensors. Polymer, reinforcement fillers, processing and design have critical influences in the overall properties of the composite sensors. Together with the properties of the functional composites, environmental concerns are being increasingly relevant for applications, involving advances in materials selection and manufacturing technologies. In this scenario, additive manufacturing is playing an increasing role in modern technological solutions. Stretchable multifunctional composites applications include piezoresistive, dielectric elastomers (mainly for actuators), thermoelectric or magnetorheological materials. In the following sections, piezoresistive materials and applications will be mainly addressed based on their increasing implementation into applications.
- Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Properties of Fluorinated Polymers with Embedded Functionalized NanodiamondsPublication . Nunes-Pereira, João; Costa, Pedro; Fernandes, Liliana; Carvalho, Estela O.; Fernandes, Margarida M.; Carabineiro, S.A.C.; Buijnsters, Josephus; Rial Tubio, Carmen; Lanceros-Mendez, SenentxuEnvironmentally resilient antimicrobial coatings are becoming increasingly required for a wide range of applications. For this purpose, nanocomposite thin films of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) filled with several types of functionalized nanodiamonds (NDs) were processed by solvent casting. The effects of ND inclusion and functionalization in their morphological, structural, optical, thermal, and electrical properties were evaluated taking into account the type of the nanofiller and a concentration up to 2 wt %. The morphology, structure, and thermal features of the polymer matrix are governed by the processing conditions, and no noticeable changes occurred due to the presence of the ND fillers. The polymer crystallized mainly in the α phase with a crystallinity of ≈60%. In turn, the optical transmittance from 200 to 800 nm and the dielectric constant effectively depended on the ND type and content. The inclusion of the ND particles effectively provided antimicrobial properties to the films, which depended on the ND functionalization. This study thus shows that the incorporation of functionalized NDs into PVDF allows the development of antimicrobial coatings with tailorable optical and dielectric properties, which could be of great importance to face nowadays pandemic crisis scenario.