Thermal and Dielectric Stability of Functional Photo-cross-linkable Carbazole-Modified Polypropylene

The present work deals with the synthesis and characterization of fluorescent polypropylene materials as well as the study of some properties, with the purpose of exploring their potential as specialty materials in high-thermal stability dielectrics. Direct copolymerization of propylene with 9-(undec-10-en-1-yl)-9H-carbazole, via metallocene catalysis, has allowed the preparation of materials containing up to 4 mol % of carbazole units. Characterization of obtained materials has shown that, besides fluorescence emission, improvements in both dielectric response and stability are important enough for potential use in PP-based film capacitors. In addition, an exploratory study on a UV-irradiated copolymer reveals that cross-linking between carbazole units is the mechanism that enables further improvements in thermal and thermo-oxidative stabilities, with respect to polypropylene.