In-situ copolymerization of ethylene with polar monomer using late transition metal catalyst in the presence of nitride-based nanomaterial as a drop in filler

Polyolefin such as polyethylene (PE) is one of the widely used thermoplastic. Its application profile can be increased by introducing functional moieties in the polymer chains. Functional polyolefin (such as PE) can be used in variety of applications such as adhesion related, dyability, grafting, photo active materials, and biomaterials. The industrial production of functional PE is based on harsh free radical processes which energy intense as well as costly process. It is challenging to produce copolymer of ethylene with polar monomers such as vinyl acetate and methyl acrylate via coordination polymerization specially using the traditional Ziegler Natta and metallocene catalysts. Late transition metals catalysts (Such as Ni, Pd) have been found to copolymerize ethylene with polar monomers successfully. Moreover, the literature showed that the catalytic activity and product characteristics can be tuned by utilizing nanomaterials through in-situ polymerization. Metal nitrides such as chromium nitride (CrN), boron nitride (BN) etc are an emerging class of inorganic nanomaterial. This class of nanomaterials has gained researchers interest in recent years because of the unique physical properties (e.g., high mechanical stiffness, thermal stability, and corrosion resistance) additionally they are chemically inert in nature. In the proposal, the team aim to copolymerize PE with a polar monomer while using nitride-based nanomaterial as a drop in filler. The additives during the in-situ polymerization of olefin monomers will not only affect the final properties of the product but also affect the microstructural characteristics (such as the copolymer composition) of the polymer