Structure and Dynamics in Hyperbranched Polyester / GO Nanocomposites

Hyperbranched polymers are a new class of materials which hold promises for a broad range of applications due to their shape, the large number of functional groups together with their cost-effective synthesis, as compared to dendrimers. At the same time, the behavior of polymers close to surfaces or under confinement appears to be very different from that in the bulk. Intercalated polymer/graphitic additive nanocomposites have recently attracted the scientific and industrial interest in order to fabricate materials possessing features of both components. Moreover, polymer dynamics in the bulk and under confinement is of great interest both because it greatly affects many of their macroscopic properties and because of the complexity it exhibits over many length- and time-scales. In the present work, the effect of polymer/surface interactions on the structure and dynamics of three different generations of hyperbranched polyester polyols, Boltorn TM, when mixed with graphite oxide, GO, is investigated.