Horn, Christoph; Pospiech, Doris; Zessin, Johanna; Stein, Sebastian; Jehnichen, Dieter; Komber, Hartmut; Göbel, Michael; Voit, Brigitte; Kiriy, Anton
Synthesis and Characterization of a Regioregular Side-Chain Semifluorinated Polythiophene
The synthesis of a new side-chain semifluorinated thiophene monomer obtained by the reaction of 3-thiophene ethanol with 4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,9,9,9-tridecafluorononan-1-ol is reported. The side-chain semifluorinated monomer is polymerized using Kumada catalyst-transfer polycondensation to obtain the regioregular side-chain semifluorinated thiophene polymer P3sfT with a sufficiently high molar mass…
Hydrogels composed of hyaluronic acid and dendritic ELPs: hierarchical structure and physical properties
Shmidov, Yulia; Zhou, Mingjun; Yosefi, Gal; Bitton, Ronit; Matson, John B.
Hydrogels that mimic the native extracellular matrix were prepared from hyaluronic acid (HA) and amine-terminated dendritic elastin-like peptides (denELPs) of generations 1, 2, and 3 (G1, 2, and 3) as crosslinking units. The physical properties of the hydrogels were investigated by rheology, scanning electron microscopy, swelling tests, small-angle X-ray scattering…
Amphiphilic diblock copolymer-mediated structure control in nanoporous germanium-based thin films
Hohn, Nuri; Hetzenecker, Andreas E.; Giebel, Michael A.; Geier, Sebastian; Bießmann, Lorenz; Körstgens, Volker; Saxena, Nitin; Schlipf, Johannes; Ohm, Wiebke; Deimel, Peter S.; Allegretti, Francesco; Barth, Johannes V.; Roth, Stephan V.; Fässler, Thomas F.; Müller-Buschbaum, Peter
Fabrication of porous, foam-like germanium-based (Ge-based) nanostructures is achieved with the use of the amphiphilic diblock copolymer polystyrene-b-polyethylene oxide as structure directing agent. Basic concepts of block copolymer assisted sol–gel synthesis are successfully realized based on the 4− Zintl clusters as a precursor for Ge-based thin films. Material/elemental composition and…
Highly Conducting, Transparent PEDOT:PSS Polymer Electrodes from Post-Treatment with Weak and Strong Acids
Bießmann, Lorenz; Saxena, Nitin; Hohn, Nuri; Hossain, Md Asjad; Veinot, Jonathan G. C.; Müller-Buschbaum, Peter
Abstract The origin of high conductivity in polymer electrodes based on poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) is investigated and the resilience against water exposure is tested. Post-treatment with weak and strong acids, namely, hydrochloric acid (HCl), formic acid (HCOOH), nitric acid (HNO3), and sulfuric acid (H2SO4), is performed and compared to…
Well-defined metal-polymer nanocomposites: The interplay of structure, thermoplasmonics, and elastic mechanical properties
Reig, David Saleta; Hummel, Patrick; Wang, Zuyuan; Rosenfeldt, Sabine; Graczykowski, Bartlomiej; Retsch, Markus; Fytas, George
Metal-polymer nanocomposites are hybrid materials combining the superior plasmonic, electrical, and thermal properties of metals with the good elasticity and manufacturability of polymers. This renders metal-polymer nanocomposites promising candidates for conductive filler and coating applications, where mechanical properties are optothermally coupled. Here, we study the interplay of…
Atomic Layer Deposition of Space-Efficient SnO2 Underlayers for BiVO4 Host–Guest Architectures for Photoassisted Water Splitting
Lamm, Benjamin; Zhou, Lite; Rao, Pratap; Stefik, Morgan
Bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) is promising for solar-assisted water splitting. The performance of BiVO4 is limited by charge separation for >70 nm films or by light harvesting for
Surface Dynamics and Ligand–Core Interactions of Quantum Sized Photoluminescent Gold Nanoclusters
Lin, Yiyang; Charchar, Patrick; Christofferson, Andrew J.; Thomas, Michael R.; Todorova, Nevena; Mazo, Manuel M.; Chen, Qu; Doutch, James; Richardson, Robert; Yarovsky, Irene; Stevens, Molly M.
Quantum-sized metallic clusters protected by biological ligands represent a new class of luminescent materials; yet the understanding of structural information and photoluminescence origin of these ultrasmall clusters remains a challenge. Herein we systematically study the surface ligand dynamics and ligand–metal core interactions of peptide-protected gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) with combined…
Ion Transport in Glassy Polymerized Ionic Liquids: Unraveling the Impact of the Molecular Structure
Heres, Maximilian; Cosby, Tyler; Mapesa, Emmanuel Urandu; Liu, Hongjun; Berdzinski, Stefan; Strehmel, Veronika; Dadmun, Mark; Paddison, Stephen J.; Sangoro, Joshua
The impact of molecular structure on ion dynamics and morphology in ammonium- and imidazolium-based glassy polymerized ionic liquids (polyILs) is investigated using broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS), wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), and classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. It is shown that ammonium-based polyILs exhibit higher dc ionic conductivity at their respective…
Microstructures of cellulose coagulated in water and alcohols from 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate: contrasting coagulation mechanisms
Hedlund, Artur; Köhnke, Tobias; Hagman, Joel; Olsson, Ulf; Theliander, Hans
Coagulation of cellulose solutions is a process whereby many useful materials with variable microstructures and properties can be produced. This study investigates the complexity of the phase separation that generates the structural heterogeneity of such materials. The ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (), and a co-solvent, dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), are used to…
Stretching PEO–PPO Type of Star Block Copolymer Gels: Rheology and Small-Angle Scattering
Mortensen, Kell; Annaka, Masahiko
Cross-linked Tetronic star block copolymer gels, based on poly(ethylene oxide) and poly(propylene oxide), behave quite regular with respect to mechanical properties, but exhibits unusual absence of structural response to strain. The elastic response is linear up to more than 100% strain, with a steady-state modulus of the order of 0.01…