Self-reinforced all-acrylic water-borne coatings – PISAForFilms

Thanks to the development of the polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) approach, it is nowadays possible to produce polymeric nanofibres in high yield, through green water-based processes. Thanks to their high aspect ratio, numerous applications of these nanofibres can be considered. However, their development remains restricted. One reason for their limited application is the insufficient versatility of the existing synthesis approaches.
The project proposes a versatile approach that can be applied to a large number of polymers, in order to design new functional materials. Thanks to a novel synthesis concept based on supramolecular templating, we propose the robust synthesis of polymeric nanofibers, possessing various chemical structures, in water, and without using molecular additives or VOCs. The targeted applications are water-borne coatings with reinforced mechanical properties. Therefore, polymeric nanofibres with a high glass transition temperature (Tg) will be synthesized, and the in situ formed aqueous dispersions of the glassy nanofibres will be used as organic fillers for soft acrylic latexes. After homogeneous mixing and film-forming at room temperature, all-organic nanostructured hybrid films will be obtained that will possess enhanced mechanical properties at low filler content through the formation of a (percolating) network of the high aspect ratio nanofibres.