title: Microorganism Nutrition Processes as a General Route for the Preparation of Bionic Nanocomposites Based on Intractable Polymers.
abstract: In this paper the fermentation process activated by living microorganisms of the baker's yeast is proposed as a facile assembly method of hybrid nanoparticles at liquid interface. Water dispersion of commercial baker's yeast extract used for bread production, graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs), and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were added to oil/water interface; when the yeast is activated by adding sugar, the byproduct carbon dioxide bubbles migrate from the water phase to the oil/water interface generating a floating nanostructured film at liquid interface where it is trapped. Starting from this simple method, we propose a general approach for the stabilization of intractable poly(etheretherketone) polymeric particles with GNPs and CNTs at immiscible liquid interface. This process allowed the formation of sintered porous composites with improved mechanical properties. The porous structure of the composites gave rise to a low thermal conductivity making them good candidates for thermal insulating applications. Liquid absorption by these porous composites has been also reported. We believe that this new approach may have applications in the large scale fabrication of nanomaterials and is particularly suited for the preparation of nanocomposites starting from polymers that are intractable by solvent casting.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale, Università di Perugia, UdR INSTM , Strada di Pentima 4, 05100 Terni, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Valentini
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale, Università di Perugia, UdR INSTM , Strada di Pentima 4, 05100 Terni, Italy.|Laboratory of Bio-Inspired and Graphene Nanomechanics, Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento , via Mesiano 77, I-38123 Trento, Italy.
authors.forename: S Bittolo
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Bon
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Bio-Inspired and Graphene Nanomechanics, Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento , via Mesiano 77, I-38123 Trento, Italy.|Centre for Materials and Microsystems, Fondazione Bruno Kessler , via Sommarive 18, I-38123 Povo (Trento), Italy.|School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London , Mile End Road, E1 4NS London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: N M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Pugno
keywords: biogenic materials; carbon nanotubes; graphene; hybrid materials; porous nanocomposites