Development of Advanced Materials Based on Polymeric Ionic Liquids Formulated for Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the design, development and characterisation of 3D printable materials based on polymeric ionic liquids. Additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, is a revolutionary set of technologies with many benefits compared to conventional fabrication techniques. The design and production flexibility of this technology in conjunction with its capability to transfer advanced properties of nanostructured materials across scales, opens up new opportunities to design cost-effective smart materials for next-generation devices in practically all fields of application. Nevertheless, 3D printing is critically limited by the availability of resins designed for additive processes. In this regard, polymeric ionic liquids (PILs) are ideal matrices to stabilise molecular and nanostructured materials as a result of their ionic and supramolecular interactions. Furthermore, PILs can be formulated to be printed by 3D techniques. For that reason, PIL-based formulations have been evaluated in several applications, including antibacterial and photodegradation of pollutants.