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Abstract
Copper nanoparticles have been synthesized in a colloidal solution of hyperbranched polyamine by a reductive technique. The formation of Cu nanoparticles was confirmed from UV, FT-IR, XRD and TEM studies. This colloidal solution of hyperbranched polyamine/Cu nanoparticles as well as hyperbranched polyamine alone have been used to cure commercially available bisphenol-A based epoxy resin at different dose levels (10–30 phr) with and without commercial poly(amido amine) hardener. The drying time, hardness, impact and chemical resistance of the cured epoxy resin have been investigated. The studies on morphology, thermostability and flame retardancy of cured films indicate the uniform distribution of different phases, high thermostability (up to 250°C) and self extinguishing characteristics respectively. Effective antifungal activity of the pure colloidal solution of hyperbranched polyamine/Cu-nanoparticles against Candida albicans fungus was observed.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank RSIC, Shillong for performing TEM analysis. One of the authors, S.S. Mahapatra, also expresses his gratitude to CSIR, New Delhi for SRF assistantship through the grant No. [09/796/(0010)/2007/EMR-I].