Research areas
Crystallization is the most basic process of various semicrystallin polymers, it determines the overall structure, morphology and final properties of the polymeric material. By controlling this process, we can obtain products with the desired properties. However, this is a complex process, especially at the nanometer scale. Although there are many advances in polymer crystallization research, many mechanisms of crystal formation and crystal arrangement in spherulite basic unit have not been elucidated in the literature. Our laboratory will be interested in studying the crystallization process of some complex mixing systems using modern analytical equipment, especially atomic force microscopy or AFM-IR enabled simultaneously observe the distribution of functional groups and morphology at the nanometer level. We will explore and investigate he crystallization behavior of some biodegradable polymers (PCL, PHB, PEG, Starch, and PBS) in 2D (thin film) and 3D (thick film) structures under different conditions. The ultimate goal is to improve their properties (biodegradation, mechanical properties, gas permeability) by controlling crystallization conditions to extend their applicability, especially in medical and biomedical fields, which are still limited today due to their lack of suitable properties of the biopolymers. More specifically, we interest to investigate i) Crystallization of miscible and immiscible mixtures of biodegradable polymers and composites; ii) Phenomena at the interface of mixtures of biodegradable polymers at the nanometric scale and iii) Study of the relationship: nano-structuration – degradation – durability of biopolymers and composites.