Composite materials with desired characteristics
Composite material, where the matrix material and the additive are held together by covalently or non-covalently bound ligands. The linker unit between matrix and additive has the structure Ligand1-LinkerL-Ligand 2, wherein Ligand1 and Ligand2 are a bond or a chemical entity that is capable of binding covalently or non-covalently to a structural entity, such as a polymer matrix or the additive (ex. CNT, graphene, carbon nanofiber, etc), and LinkerL is a chemical bond or entity that links Ligand1 and Ligand2.
1. A composite material unit (CMU) of the structure (SE1-Ligand1-LinkerL-Ligand2-SE2), where SE1 and SE2 are structural entities, Ligand1 is a chemical entity that is non-covalently bound to SE1 and Ligand2 is a chemical entity that is covalently bound to SE2 respectively, and LinkerL is a chemical entity which links Ligand1 and Ligand2;
wherein SE2 is a polymer;
SE1 is a fullerene;
Ligand1 comprises an amino acid residue which is comprised of fewer than 50 amino acids, LinkerL has a length of less than 2 nm and Ligand2 has a molecular weight of less than 500 Dal.
2. The composite material unit according to claim 1 , wherein LinkerL has a length in the ranges of 0.1-0.4 nm, 0.4-1 nm or 1-2 nm.
3. The composite material unit according to claim 1 , wherein Ligand2 has a molecular weight of 1-100 Dal; 100-200 Dal, 200-300 Dal, 300-400 Dal or 400-500 Dal.
4. The composite material unit according to claim 1 , wherein Ligand2 comprises a number of unnatural amino acids (AA), in the range: 2-3 AA, 3-4 AA, 4-5 AA, 5-6 AA, 6-7 AA, 7-8 AA, 8-9 AA, 9-10 AA, 10-15 AA, 15-20 AA, 20-25 AA, 25-30 AA, 30-40 AA or 40-50 AA.
5. The composite material unit according to claim 1 , where SE1 is a carbon nanotube, buckyball or graphene molecule.
6. The composite material unit according to claim 1 , where SE2 is a plastic, a thermoset, or a thermoplastic.
7. A composite material comprising CMUs according to claim 1 , where the total number of CMUs in a composite material is greater than 1E+00.
8. The composite material unit according to claim 1 , wherein the number of ligands bound per structural entity is greater than 1.
9. The composite material unit according to claim 1 , wherein the SE is a carbon nanotube or graphene molecule, bound by more than 1 ligand.
10. A composite material unit according to claim 1 , of the structure (SE1-Ligand1-LinkerL-Ligand2-5E2), wherein
SE1 is a carbon nanotube, buckyball or graphene molecule;
SE2 is a polymer;
Ligand1 is a chemical entity which is non-covalently bound to SE1;
Ligand2 is a chemical entity which is covalently bound to SE2
LinkerL is a chemical entity as defined in claim 1 which physically links Ligand1 and Ligand2.
11. A composite material unit according to claim 1 , wherein Ligand1 is comprised of fewer than 40 AA.
12. A composite material unit according to claim 1 , wherein Ligand1 is comprised of more than 1 AA.
13. A composite material unit according to claim 1 , wherein Ligand1 comprises in the range: 2-3 AA, 3-4 AA, 4-5 AA, 5-6 AA, 6-7 AA, 7-8 AA, 8-9 AA, 9-10 AA, 10-15 AA, 15-20 AA, 20-25 AA, 25-30 AA, 30-40 AA, or 40-50 AA.
14. A composite material unit according to claim 1 , wherein Ligand1 comprises phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan or histidine.
15. A composite material unit according to claim 1 , wherein Ligand1 comprises one or more natural amino acids.
16. A composite material unit according to claim 1 , wherein Ligand1 comprises a natural peptide.
17. A composite material unit according to claim 1 , wherein Ligand1 is a peptide with the sequence QLMHDYR, CPTSTGQAC, CTLHVSSYC, RLNPPSQMDPPF, QTWPPPLWFSTS, HTDWRLGTWHHS, ELWSIDTSAHRK, IFRLSWGTYFS, HWKHPWGAWDTL, ELWR, ELWRPTR, KPRSVSG-dansyl, TGTG-F-GTCT, TGTG-V-GTCT, TGTG-W-GTCT, TGTG-T-GTCT, TGTG-G-GTCT, TGTG-N-GTCT, TGTG-K-GTCT, TGTG-D-GTCT, MHGKTQATSGTIQS, DAEFRHDS GYEVHHQKLVFFAEDVGSNKGAIIGLMVGGVVIA, DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQKLVFFAEDVGSNKGAIIGLMVGGVV, CHKKPSKSC, RKLPDAPGMHTW, SCSDCLKSVDFIPSSLASS, YLTMPTP, FSWEAFA, HLESTPG, GETRAPL, RHEPPLA, GETQCAA, FPGRPSP, HTAQSTA, HKPDANR, FPGHSGP, THLPWQT, GETQCAA, FPGRPSP, HTAQSTA, or VKTQATSREEPPRLPSKHRPG.
18. A composite material according to claim 1 , wherein Ligand1 is in at least 100-fold molar excess to SE1.
19. A composition of two or more composite material units according to claim 1 .
20. A composition according to claim 19 , where at least one of SE1 and SE2 is linked to at least two other structural entities.
21. A composite material comprising a composition of two or more composite material units of claim 1 , where at least one of SE1 and SE2 is linked to at least two other structural entities.
22. A method for preparing a Composite Material Unit (CMU) according to claim 1 , said method comprising the following steps:
a. providing a first structural entity (SE1)
b. providing a second structural entity (SE2)
c. providing a linker, LinkerL
d. providing a first Ligand (Ligand1)
e. providing a second Ligand (Ligand2)
f. reacting, in any order, the provided structural entities, linker and ligands, to form a composite material unit (CMU) of the structure (SE1-Ligand1-LinkerL-Ligand2-SE2),
wherein the first structural entity (SE1), the second structural entity (SE2), LinkerL, Ligand1 and Ligand2 are as defined in claim 1 .
23. A carbon-nanotube (CNT) reinforced polymer comprising one or more composite material units according to claim 1 .