Kittikhunnatham, Preecha; Som, Bozumeh; Rassolov, Vitaly; Stolte, Matthias; Würthner, Frank; Shimizu, Linda S.; Greytak, Andrew B.
Fluorescence Polarization Measurements to Probe Alignment of a Bithiophene Dye in One-Dimensional Channels of Self-Assembled Phenylethynylene Bis-Urea Macrocycle Crystals
This paper describes the use of polarized fluorescence microscopy to directly probe guest molecule orientation in bis-urea macrocycle crystals. These macrocycles assemble to afford one-dimensional (1D) microchannels ∼9 Å in diameter that have previously been shown to exhibit normal Fickian diffusion and induce selective reactivity among the confined guest molecules.…
Deformation X-ray study of propylene-based elastomers with controlled sequence distributions
Lu, Yonglai; Norman, Alexander I.; Tsou, Andy H.; Hagadorn, John R.; Hsiao, Benjamin S.
Three iso-specific organometallic catalysts for ethylene and propylene copolymerization with varying products of ethylene and propylene reactivity ratios were utilized to synthesize equal-molecular-weight propylene-based elastomers (PBEs) of alternating (aPBE), random (rPBE), and blocky (bPBE) backbone sequences. To compensate for the variations in catalyst iso-specificity, the ethylene content…
Non-lamellar lipid assembly at interfaces: controlling layer structure by responsive nanogel particles
Dabkowska, Aleksandra P.; Valldeperas, Maria; Hirst, Christopher; Montis, Costanza; Pálsson, Gunnar K.; Wang, Meina; Nöjd, Sofi; Gentile, Luigi; Barauskas, Justas; Steinke, Nina-Juliane; Schroeder-Turk, Gerd E.; George, Sebastian; Skoda, Maximilian W. A.; Nylander, Tommy
Biological membranes do not only occur as planar bilayer structures, but depending on the lipid composition, can also curve into intriguing three-dimensional structures. In order to fully understand the biological implications as well as to reveal the full potential for applications, e.g. for drug delivery and other biomedical devices, of…
Dynamic glass transition of the rigid amorphous fraction in polyurethane-urea/SiO2 nanocomposites
Koutsoumpis, Stefanos; Raftopoulos, Konstantinos N.; Oguz, Oguzhan; Papadakis, Christine M.; Menceloglu, Yusuf Z.; Pissis, Polycarpos
We report molecular dynamics in the rigid amorphous fraction (RAF) of the polymer bound at the interfaces with nanoparticles in polymer nanocomposites and calculate the glass transition temperature, Tg, for this bound layer of polymer. We follow the ‘3-phase-model’ for semicrystalline polymers where the polymer matrix consists of the crystalline…
Structural analysis of Ioncell-F fibres from birch wood
Asaadi, Shirin; Hummel, Michael; Ahvenainen, Patrik; Gubitosi, Marta; Olsson, Ulf; Sixta, Herbert
Quite recently, the Ioncell-F process, a novel and promising Lyocell fibre process, has been developed. The ionic liquid 1,5-diazabicyclonon-5-enium acetate (OAc) utilized in this process, was identified as an excellent cellulose solvent for dry-jet wet fibre spinning. Fibres spun from cellulose-OAc solution have shown excellent mechanical properties. Herein, various structural…
Reactive oligo (dimethylsiloxane) mesogens and their nanostructured thin films
Nickmans, K.; Leclere, Ph; Lub, J.; Broer, D. J.; Schenning, APHJ
Soft matter, 2017, vol 13, 24, pp. 4357–4362DOI:Back to the overview
Large Scale Self-Assembly of Smectic Nanocomposite Films by Doctor Blading versus Spray Coating: Impact of Crystal Quality on Barrier Properties
Tsurko, Evgeny S.; Feicht, Patrick; Nehm, Frederik; Ament, Kevin; Rosenfeldt, Sabine; Pietsch, Ines; Roschmann, Konrad; Kalo, Hussein; Breu, Josef
Flexible transparent barrier films are required in various fields of application ranging from flexible, transparent food packaging to display encapsulation. Environmentally friendly, waterborne polymer–clay nanocomposites would be preferred but fail to meet in particular requirements for ultra high water vapor barriers. Here we show that self-assembly of nanocomposite films into…
Matrix-Free Polymer Nanocomposite Thermoplastic Elastomers
Huang, Yucheng; Zheng, Yang; Sarkar, Amrita; Xu, Yanmei; Stefik, Morgan; Benicewicz, Brian C.
Thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) grafted nanoparticles were prepared by grafting block copolymer poly(styrene-block-(n-butyl acrylate)) onto silica nanoparticles (NPs) via surface-initiated reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. The effects of polymer chain length and graft density on the mechanical properties were investigated using films made solely from the…
Can high oxygen and water vapor barrier nanocomposite coatings be obtained with a waterborne formulation?
Tsurko, Evgeny S.; Feicht, Patrick; Habel, Christoph; Schilling, Theresa; Daab, Matthias; Rosenfeldt, Sabine; Breu, Josef
Modification of synthetic, high aspect ratio clay with 6-aminocaprohydroxamic acid hydrochloride pushes the interaction between the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) matrix and the filler to the level where the waterborne nanocomposite becomes rather insensitive to swelling, even at an elevated relative humidity (RH). The modifier can form strong hydrogen bonds with…
Nanorattles with tailored electric field enhancement
Schnepf, Max J.; Mayer, Martin; Kuttner, Christian; Tebbe, Moritz; Wolf, Daniel; Dulle, Martin; Altantzis, Thomas; Formanek, Petr; Förster, Stephan; Bals, Sara; König, Tobias A. F.; Fery, Andreas
Nanorattles are metallic core–shell particles with core and shell separated by a dielectric spacer. These nanorattles have been identified as a promising class of nanoparticles, due to their extraordinary high electric-field enhancement inside the cavity. Limiting factors are reproducibility and loss of axial symmetry owing to the movable metal core;…