MIT-World Peace University (MIT-WPU) is a top educational institute located in Pune, India. It is recognized within&nbsp;UGC under Government of Maharashtra Act No. XXXV 2017.&nbsp;

It is part of the MIT group of institutions (established in 1983) which covers 10+ campuses across India and has more than 50,000+ students enrolled across various disciplines at a given point of time. The institute houses 15 schools ranging from Engineering &amp; Technology, Design, Pharmacy, Commerce, Governance among others. It offers undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD programs among different disciplines.&nbsp;

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MIT World Peace University

School of Polymer Engineering

Conducting polypyrrole electrodes obtained by electro-polymerization of pyrrole on vacuum metallized glass substrates are modified by doping with a range of metal halides as dopant ions having different electronegativity. Electro-oxidation of methanol using these electrodes is studied by means of cyclic voltammetry in 0.1 M HClO4 as supporting electrolyte. It is found that the electronegativity of the dopant ion plays a very important role in the electrocatalytic activity. Polypyrrole doped with zirconium chloride gives the highest anodic current of 10 mA cm-2 at the oxidation potential of methanol. The results are explained on the basis of the charge-transfer efficiency at the electrode|electrolyte interface, which is associated with the acceptor state created by the dopant in the semi-conducting polymer. © 2005.

Engineering and Technology

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Journal of Power Sources

Role of dopant ions in electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol using conducting polypyrrole electrodes

Series of thiophenes containing mesogenic side chains at the 3rd position are synthesized. The thermal transitions and thermal stability of the synthesized monomers and polymers are studied. The polarizing microscopic studies of synthesized monomers showed nematic liquid crystalline phase and these mesophases further confirmed by differential scanning calorimetric study. The obtained melting and the isotropic temperatures decrease linearly with the increase of aliphatic chain length. The transition temperatures determined from DSC analysis, overlap well with the temperatures obtained from optical microscopy studies. Thermal stability of the compounds is analysed using thermogravimetric studies. Thermal stability of monomers and polymers has been determined by calculating IPDT values. Structural influence on thermal degradation patterns of monomers and polymers are also discussed.&nbsp;

Fulltext

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry

Thermal studies on polythiophene containing mesogenic side chains

This review focuses on the interrelation between the influences of polymeric structure on the optical properties of polythiophene - a versatile polymer for opto-electronic applications. From the application's point of view, the polymer should either be melt-or solution-processible. Functionalization of polythiophenes really helps for the above. On the other hand, the functionalization at the 3 and/or 4 position of the thiophene ring modifies the band gap of the polymer, which in turn, modifies photo absorption, photo- and electro-emission characteristics of polythiophenes. The present work reviews the influence of the optical properties of polythiophene on the different functional groups present in the thiophene ring. © World Scientific Publishing Company.

International Journal of Modern Physics B

Optical properties of functionalized polythiophenes

Color tuning by the tailoring of substituents at the 3-position of thiophene is very encouraging, and comparative experimental and theoretical studies proved to be powerful in the search for a suitable design for the above. Since the novel polythiophene-based materials substituted with five-membered/six-membered ring containing sulphur and nitrogen at different positions are proven to be potential candidates for electron-transporting hole blocking functions, the structure-property relationship of these systems have been focused in the present study. Molecular-orbital calculations are applied to obtain the optimized geometries and band gaps of the thiophene oligomers. An oligomeric approach has been implemented for calculating the band gaps, and the theoretically obtained band gaps for the different model compounds are compared. Density-functional theory B3LYP6-31 G* predicted band-gap values are compared with the experimental band gaps obtained from optical-absorption edge. The predicted values show little deviations from experimental band gaps, but the trend in band gap is found to be the same in experimental and theoretical results in most of the cases. Hence, this study illustrates the usefulness of quantum-mechanical calculations in understanding the effects of various structural parameters on optical band gap. © 2005 American Institute of Physics.

Journal of Chemical Physics

Quantum chemical studies on polythiophenes containing heterocyclic substituents: Effect of structure on the band gap

The advent of plastics and the wide range of fillers that are available have made modification as precise as the tailored resins themselves. Compounds are prepared from poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), and two fillers, talc and synthetic sodium aluminum silicate (SSAS), at varying concentrations (up to 40wt%). The effects of both the fillers on the mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties, salt spray performance; Rheological as well as optical properties of filled PMMA are measured. The impact strength of PMMA increased with increasing concentrations of talc and SSAS up to 20 and 15% loading, respectively, and thereafter declined continuously in both the cases. Increase in impact strength is more in the case of talc-filled PMMA than that of SSAS-filled PMMA. Tensile strength decreased with increasing concentration of both the fillers continuously. The elongation at break decreased drastically for PMMA with increasing concentrations of both the fillers. Electrical properties remained almost unchanged with respect to the concentration of the fillers. The zero shear viscosity increased with increasing concentration of both the fillers, but the rate of increase was more for SSAS than that for talc. © 2005 Sage Publications.

Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials

Effect of talc and synthetic sodium aluminum silicate (SSAS) on the properties of poly (methyl methacrylate)

The electrical properties and piezo-response of conducting polymer blends have been investigated with respect to composition for styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) elastomer containing two grades of polyaniline (PANI). The blends were synthesized using solution/dispersion technique in which the conducting PANI was prepared with either HCl or dodecyl benzene sulfonic acid (DBSA) as dopant. Thick sheets cast from these exhibited high piezo-sensitive electrical resistance even at small mechanical load. The pressure dependence of resistance followed a non-linear power law of the type R = KP-m where K and m values changed considerably with composition. The current voltage characteristics in these blends were found to be highly non-linear and the conduction mechanism was either space charge limited or tunneling type depending on the concentration and nature of conducting additive. These various results have been explained on the basis of the phenomenological model developed incorporating the non-linear processes for electrical and mechanical properties. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sensors and Actuators, A: Physical

Role of non-linear processes in conducting polymer blends for piezo-sensors

We offer a novel polymer-inorganic solid-state reaction route for the in situ generation of nanochalcogenide semiconductor in the network of polymer which itself acts as a chalcogen source. We have exemplified feasibility of this route by reacting CdI2 with engineering thermoplastic polyphenylene sulphide (PPS). These two reactants in 1:1 and 10:1 molar ratios were simply heated at the crystalline melting temperature of PPS. The resultant products were characterized by X-ray diffractometry, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM, with selected area electron diffraction). The prima facie observations revealed the formation of cubic nanocrystallites of CdS with the particle size ranging from 6 to 20 nm entrapped in modified (cyclized) PPS matrix when the reactants were taken in 10:1 molar ratio. A tentative mechanism has been suggested for such hitherto unattempted solid-state reaction.

Materials Letters

Novel polymer-inorganic solid-state reaction for the synthesis of CdS nanocrystallites

Conductive cotton + PANi fabrics are prepared by in-situ chemical oxidative polymer ization of aniline using ammonium persulphate as the oxidant by a process of diffusion polymerization in a mixed bath. These fabrics are characterized by elemental analysis, XRF, ATR-FTIR, WAXD, SEM, DSC, and two-probe conductivity. Sorption properties are studied by measuring the weight uptake before and after reaction. The composite fabrics are studied for their performance after repeated washing, and tested for their flame retardancy, EMI shielding, and gas sensing properties.

Textile Research Journal

Preparation, Characterization, and Performance of Conductive Fabrics: Cotton + PANi

(2-Benzothiazolidene)-3-thiophene, 3-(2-benzothiazolyl) thiophene and (6-ethoxy-2-benzothiazolidene)-3-thiophene were synthesized. Influences of structure on optical and thermal properties of the above compounds were studied in detail. The experimental studies were supported by predictions based on molecular orbital calculations. The studies reveal that in a single compound, photoluminescence covering the whole visible range can be obtained by suitably substituting thiophene ring with benzothiazolyl group. The intensity of absorption of poly3-benzothiazolyl thiophene (PBTT) is high when compared to other systems and emission is in the blue region. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Organic Electronics

Structure-optical, thermal properties studies on thiophene containing benzothiazole groups

The crystallization behavior, structure, and morphology developed was investigated for polypropylene containing different fillers such as silica, calcium carbonate, talc, mica, graphite, etc. by using compression-molded samples prepared at several cooling rates. It was observed that the crystallinity obtained for any given composition depended on the thermal conductivity of the filler and the PP composite containing it as well as the cooling rate to which it was subjected. These composites exhibited skin-core type of morphology and the skin layer thickness was found to depend not only on the cooling rate but also on the type of filler, its thermal conductivity, etc. These various experimental findings were discussed in light of the phenomenological model described in our earlier work, which correlates thermal conductivity and degree of crystallinity for various compositions of PP containing additives. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Key words:.