Copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) functionalized with polyethyleneimine (PEI) and 4-aminobutyric acid (GABA) were used to obtain composites with isotactic polypropylene (iPP). The iPP/CuNPs composites were prepared at copper concentrations of 0.25–5.0 wt % by melt mixing, no evidence of oxidation of the CuNP was observed. Furthermore, the release of copper ions from iPP/CuNPs composites in an aqueous medium was studied. The release of cupric ions was higher in the composites with 2.5 and 5.0 wt %. These composites showed excellent antibacterial activity (AA) toward Pseudomona aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). The incorporation of CuNP into the iPP polymeric matrix slightly decreased the thermal stability of the composite material but improved the crystallinity and the storage modulus. This evidence suggests that CuNPs could work as nucleating agents in the iPP crystallization process. The iPP/CuNPs composites presented better AA properties compared to similar composites reported previously. This behavior indicates that the new materials have great potential to be used in various applications that can be explored in the future.

In this work, we report the synthesis of copper nanoparticles (Cu NPs), employing the chemical reduction method in an aqueous medium. We used copper sulfate pentahydrate (CuSO₄·5H₂O) as a metallic precursor; polyethylenimine (PEI), allylamine (AAM), and 4-aminobutyric acid (AABT) as stabilizing agents; and hydrated hydrazine as a reducing agent. The characterization of the obtained nanoparticles consisted of X-ray, TEM, FTIR, and TGA analyses. Through these techniques, it was possible to detect the presence of the used stabilizing agents on the surface of the NPs. Finally, a zeta potential analysis was performed to differentiate the stability of the nanoparticles with a different type of stabilizing agent, from which it was determined that the most stable nanoparticles were the Cu NPs synthesized in the presence of the PEI/AAM mixture. The antimicrobial activity of Cu/PEI/AABT toward P. aeruginosa and S. aureus bacteria was high, inhibiting both bacteria with low contact times and copper concentrations of 50–200 ppm. The synthesis method allowed us to obtain Cu NPs free of oxides, stable to oxidation, and with high yields. The newly functionalized Cu NPs are potential candidates for antimicrobial applications.

In product design is important to choose the correct material for a specific application. Viscoelastic behavior let us know how much energy the material can dissipate on its internal structure or either return it to the surroundings, and the property that describe this is the Complex Modulus G*, it is a complex quantity that can be separated in a real and an imaginary part called G' storage modulus and iG'' loss modulus respectively. These properties can be measured experimentally from a small material sample easily by performing Dynamical Mechanical Analysis (DMA). In Product Design process there are both, computational and physical validations and there is the need of improving computational studies by understanding the physics of each component. Viscoelastic characteristics of materials can be represented by Prony series, also known as relaxation modulus in function of time. Relaxation modulus can be defined in most of Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) Software. In this article the procedure for calculating Prony Series from DMA data will be explained.