Polyurethane and rare-earth materials: a review

Abstract

Polyurethanes are polymers produced from polyols and isocyanates. Commonly, aiming to modify physicochemical properties of the resulting material, other chemical species can be introduced in the polymeric structure, modifying its mechanical, thermal and electronic characteristics and conferring more stability and resistance to external factors. The rare earth chemical elements, composed of lanthanides, Y and Sc, can give the materials such improved characteristics, and are still less researched when compared to other chemical elements. In the present study, a systematic search was carried out on the Web of Science platform. No studies were identified with polyurethanes and Sc, Pr, Pm, Sm, Dy and Ho, showing room for unexplored studies. Most of the articles investigated the luminescent characteristics of the chemical elements that were used, but it was also possible to notice trends in changing mechanical and thermal properties.