Presentation

Physical-Chemistry of heterogeneous polymer systems (HEMPOL) belongs to the Department of Physical Chemistry of the Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Polímeros, ICTP-CSIC. It is currently composed of a Research Professor, three Tenured Scientists, a Postdoc Researcher, Technical Staff, three PhD Students and a number of Master and Undergraduate Students.

Originally the Group was devoted to the research on ionic and radial polymerization, conformational and rheological properties and relaxation phenomena in polymers. Also  transport phenomena, both ionic and molecular, which are still an important part of the Group’s research activities nowadays.

Along the last decade the surface modification of nano and micro hydroxilated particles has become one of the main topics in HEMPOL. New methods developed by the group are employed to modify the particles which are subsequently studied by themselves or as part of polymer based nano or microcomposites, paying special attention to the controlling of the interphases between the components.  In this way, new materials are developed in the field of energy, building and others, with a strong concern for environmental issues.

Currently research is particularly intense in the following topics:

  • Superhydrophobic coatings and surfaces and Slippery Liquid Infused Porous Surfaces (SLIPS) based on polymers and polymer hybrids or mixtures. These materials find many applications as anticorrosion coatings or superslippery surfaces.
  • Thermoplastic and electrochemically stable Solid Polymer Electrolytes for secondary Li+ batteries. These materials behave as liquids at the microscopic scale, with high ionic conductivities, while they behave as thermoplastic solids even over 70ºC.  Their thermoplastic character makes them extremely easy to process by conventional processing aids such as extrusion or melt compounding. This concept has been extended since 2017 to secondary Al batteries, for which HEMPOL develops polymer gel electrolytes, which present ionic conductivity close to that of analogous liquid electrolytes, together with good electrochemical stability. These electrolytes, which are thermoplastic, are always prepared by sustainable and scalable procedures.