Current Research on Characterization

   New developments are carried out on the following analytical techniques:

• Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) of Complex Polymers for the determination of the Molecular Weight Distribution, and
• Light Scattering, Turbidity, and Hydrodynamic Chromatography For the determination of Particle Size Distributions of latexes and colloidal systems

   Current Research on Polymer Synthesis

   The following polymerizations are being investigated

• Hybrid polymeric nanoparticles by miniemulsion polymerization
• Hybrid nanoparticles based on materials from renewable sources
• Formaldehyde resins (phenolic, urea and melamine resins): both traditional and modified with renewable resources
• Flame retardant phenolic and epoxy resins
• Bio-inspired and recyclable polymers
• Nanostructured membranes for water treatment
• Mono- and multilayer membranes for controlled delivery systems
• Polyurethanes based on vegetable oils
• Styrene polymers: polystyrene, high impact polystyrene, ABS and MBS with controlled molecular structure
• Functionalized monodisperse latex for the development of immunodiagnostic reagents
• Water soluble acrylic resins
• Hydrogels and nanogels for biomedical applications

   Current Research on Mathematical Modeling, Simulation and Control of Polymerization Processes

• Modeling and simulation of polymerization reactors (laboratory and industrial scale)
• Mathematical modeling of polymerizations in catalytic heterogeneous particle systems
• Catalytic heterogeneous polymerizations: mathematical modeling of particle morphology changes
• Control of polymerization reactors
• Optimization and Operation of polymerization processes
• Structure-property relationships