Elastomers obtained by crosslinking of ,-bis(glycidylether) poly(dimethylsiloxane) as versatile platforms for functional materials

J. S. GONZALEZ; C. E. HOPPE; R. J. J. WILLIAMS

EUROPEAN POLYMER JOURNAL

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016 vol. 87 p. 200 - 208

0014-3057

Elastomers with an interesting set of properties were synthesized by crosslinking a,x-bis(glycidylether)poly(dimethylsiloxane,PDMS), using two different strategies. The first onewas the anionic homopolymerization of terminal epoxy groups initiated by 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP); the second strategy was the crosslinking with a polyoxypropylenediamine (Jeffamine D2000). Reaction conditions were selected to achievecomplete conversion of epoxy groups. Resulting soft elastomers (PDMS-Homop andPDMS-D2000) were transparent materials with gel fractions higher 95%. PDMS-D2000exhibited an outstanding damping capacity (maximum tan d > 2) in a temperature rangelocated between 50 C and 75 C, assigned to a high viscous dissipation during therelaxation of polyoxypropylene blocks. PDMS-Homop showed also good damping propertiesin a broader low-temperature range. A significant property of both elastomers wasthe capacity to re-organize their nanostructures, as shown by SAXS spectra and contactangle measurements, in response to the hydrophilic or hydrophobic nature of the liquidin contact. Hydroxyl groups present in the chemical structure of PDMS-D2000 could beused as reducing agents for the in situ generation of gold nanoparticles from an infusedAu(III) compound. The synthesis was also performed using a sacrificial template to providemacroporosity to the resulting materials. These macroporous elastomers were used toremove organic components from water. Magnetic nanoparticles were infused and stabilizedinside the macroporous structure to allow magnetic separation of the materials afteruse.