Malgré les propriétés remarquables de polyéthylène de masse molaire très élevée(UHMWPE), une généralisation de son application est limitée en raison des difficultésrencontrées lors de sa mise en forme, liées au taux d’enchevêtrement important deschaînes.Le but de ce travail est de développer des nanocomposites et des mélanges à base depolyéthylène, par polymérisation in situ. A cet effet, des catalyseurs métallocènes et despost-métallocènes ont été immobilisés par différentes méthodes sur la silice mésoporeuseSBA-15. Le système poreux de ce support, avec des canaux bien définis à l'échellenanométrique, peut entraîner des effets de confinement des chaînes macromoléculaireset/ou permettre un mélange intime des polymères.Le comportement de la polymérisation de l'éthylène par catalyses homogène et supporté,ainsi que les méthodes d'immobilisation utilisées et leur effet sur l'activité depolymérisation et des masses molaires, ont été évalués.Une caractérisation complète des nanocomposites et des mélanges comprenant différentsaspects des matériaux (morphologie, cristallinité et homogénéité) a été réalisée. Lespropriétés thermiques et mécaniques des matériaux finaux ont été également évaluées.D'une manière générale, les nanocomposites à base de polyéthylène et les mélanges enréacteur ont montré des propriétés mécaniques améliorées, en termes de moduled'élasticité, résistance mécanique, ténacité et résistance au fluage, par comparaison avec lespolyéthylènes communs. En traitant la poudre d'UHMWPE par moulage, par compression àhaute pression et au-dessous de sa température de fusion, une augmentation remarquabledes paramètres mécaniques a été obtenue.Les résultats préliminaires sur la préparation de nanocomposites en utilisant desnanocristaux de cellulose ont montré que cette approche est faisable et qu’elle présente unpotentiel de développement. / Despite the remarkable properties of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, itsapplication is limited by the difficulties encountered in conventional melt processing duethe high degree of entanglement of the chains.The aim of this work is to develop polyethylene based nanocomposites and in-reactorblends, by in situ polymerization. For this purpose metallocenes and post-metallocenecatalysts were immobilized by different methods on mesoporous silica SBA-15. The poroussystem of this support, with well-defined channels at the nanometric scale, may causeconfinement effects of macromolecular chains and/or potentiate intimate mixing ofpolymer blends.Ethylene polymerization behavior of the homogeneous and the supported systems alongwith the immobilization methodologies used and their effect on the polymerization activityand polymer molar masses were evaluated.A complete characterization of the nanocomposites and blends comprising different aspectsof the materials properties (morphology, crystallinity and homogeneity) was carried out.The thermal and mechanical properties of the final materials were also evaluated.In a general way the polyethylene based nanocomposites and in-reactor blends showedimproved mechanical properties, in terms of elastic modulus, mechanical strength,toughness and creep resistance, when compared with neat polyethylenes. By processing theUHMWPE powders by compression molding, at high pressure and below its meltingtemperature a remarkable increase of the mechanical parameters was obtained.Preliminary results on the preparation of nanocomposites using cellulose nanowhiskershave shown that this approach is feasible and show potential for further development.

<p>The increase in shale gas exploitation has motivated the studies towards new processes for converting light alkanes into higher valuable chemicals, including fuels. The works in this dissertation focuses on two processes: propane dehydrogenation and ethylene oligomerization. The former involves the conversion of propane into propylene and hydrogen, while the latter converts light alkenes into higher molecular weight products, such as butylene and hexene. </p> <p>The thesis project focuses on understanding the effect of geometric effects of Pt alloy catalysts for propane dehydrogenation and the methodologies for their characterization. Pt-Co bimetallic catalysts were synthesized with increasing Co loadings, characterized and evaluated for its propane dehydrogenation performance. In-situ synchrotron X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XRD) and X-Ray Absorption (XAS) were used to identify and differentiate between the intermetallic compound phases in the nanoparticle surface and core. Difference spectra between oxidized and reduced catalysts suggested that, despite the increase in Co loading, the catalytic surface remained the same, Pt₃Co in a Au₃Cu structure, while the core became richer in Co, changing from a monometallic Pt fcc core at the lowest Co loading to a PtCo phase in a AuCu structure at the highest loading. Co^II single sites were also observed on the surface, due to non-reduced Co species. The catalytic performance towards propane dehydrogenation reinforced this structure, as propylene selectivity was around 96% for all catalysts, albeit the difference in composition. The Turnover Rate (TOR) of these catalysts was also similar to that of monometallic Pt catalysts, around 0.9 s^-1, suggesting Pt was the active site, while Co atoms behaved as non-active, despite both atoms being active in their monometallic counterparts.</p> <p>In the second project, a single site Co^II catalyst supported on SiO₂ was evaluated for ethylene oligomerization activity. The catalyst was synthesized, evaluated for propane dehydrogenation, propylene hydrogenation and ethylene oligomerization activities and characterized <i>in-situ</i> by XAS and EXAFS and H₂/D₂ exchange experiments. The catalysts have shown negligible conversion at 250^oC for ethylene oligomerization, while a benchmark Ni/SiO₂ catalyst had about 20% conversion and TOR of 2.3x10^-1 s^-1. However, as the temperature increased to above 300^oC, ethylene conversion increased significantly, reaching about 98% above 425^oC. <i>In-situ</i> XANES and EXAFS characterization suggested that H₂ uptake under pure H₂ increased in about two-fold from 200^oC to 500^oC, due to the loss of coordination of Co-O bonds and formation of Co-H bonds. This was further confirmed by H₂/D₂ experiments with a two-fold increase in HD formation per mole of Co. <i>In-situ</i> XAS characterization was also performed with pure C­₂H₄ at 200^oC showed a similar trend in Co-O bond loss, suggesting the formation of Co-alkyl, similarly to that of Co-H. The <i>in-situ</i> XANES spectra showed that the oxidation state remained stable as a Co²⁺ despite the change in the coordination environment, suggesting that the reactions occurs through a non-redox mechanism. These combined results allowed the proposition of a reaction pathway for dehydrogenation and oligomerization reactions, which undergo a similar reaction intermediate, a Metal-alkyl or Metal-Hydride intermediates, activating C-H bonds at high temperatures.</p>

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