Cunningham, Victoria J.; Derry, Matthew J.; Fielding, Lee A.; Musa, Osama M.; Armes, Steven P.
RAFT Aqueous Dispersion Polymerization of N-(2-(Methacryloyloxy)ethyl)pyrrolidone: A Convenient Low Viscosity Route to High Molecular Weight Water-Soluble Copolymers
RAFT solution polymerization of N-(2-(methacryoyloxy)ethyl)pyrrolidone (NMEP) in ethanol at 70 °C was conducted to produce a series of PNMEP homopolymers with mean degrees of polymerization (DP) varying from 31 to 467. Turbidimetry was used to assess their inverse temperature solubility behavior in dilute aqueous solution, with an LCST of approximately…
Self-assembly of a bio-based extractant in methyl esters: combination of small angle X-ray scattering experiments and molecular dynamics simulations
Rodrigues, Donatien Gomes; Fadel, Ophélie; Bauduin, Pierre; Girard, Luc; Guilbaud, Philippe; L’Hermitte, Annabelle; Rossignol-Castera, Anne; Diat, Olivier
The knowledge of the supramolecular structure of a polar oil that contains a bio-based extractant is necessary for a deep understanding of solubilization processes of polar species in oils. This study focuses on a ternary system containing the polyglyceryl-3-diisostearate (PG3DS), a bio-based extractant in cosmetic formulation, methyl esters (ME-Cn) as…
Self-Regulated Ion Permeation through Extraction Membranes
Duhamet, Jean; Möhwald, Helmuth; Pleines, Maximilian; Zemb, Thomas
Separation of rare earth compounds from water into an organic phase in practical cases requires the use of specific ion binding ligands in high concentrations. These tend to form complex liquid crystalline phases preferentially at ion-rich locations inside a pertraction membrane. They form a blocking layer above an ion concentration…
Self-supporting thin films of imogolite and imogolite-like nanotubes for infrared spectroscopy
Liao, Yuanyuan; Picot, Pierre; Brubach, Jean-Blaise; Roy, Pascale; Le Caër, Sophie; Thill, Antoine
Due to their narrow and well-defined structure, single wall nanotube, aluminosilicate nanotubes (imogolites) are excellent candidates to study how water is modified by either confinement or by the interface nature. A protocol is provided here to produce imogolite films that are ideally suited for infrared studies. Two types of imogolites…
Shaping nanofiltration channels in a carbonaceous membrane via controlling the pyrolysis atmosphere
Xing, Zheng; Ng, Yeap Hung; Tay, Siok-Wei; Oon, Rachel Pek Har; Hong, Liang
This work investigates the effect of atmosphere on pyrolysis of a polymer matrix (precursor) for directing its transformation towards more disordered graphene species and smaller graphitic nanograins. These two structural characteristics are crucial to the generation of nano-channels (NCs) pertinent to nanofiltration (NF). Two measures are explored hereby to conduct…
Sharp and strong “Brill transition” of poly(hexamethylene dithiocarbonate)
Zhao, Ti-Peng; Celli, Annamaria; Ren, Xiang-Kui; Xu, Jia-Ru; Yang, Shuang; Liu, Chen-Yang; Chen, Er-Qiang
In this paper, the reversible crystal-crystal transition of poly(hexamethylene dithiocarbonate) (PHMDC) has been systematically studied. According to various experimental results, we confirm that the transition shares the common features with Brill transition that is widely observed in nylons. This transition is clearly associated with the reversible trans-gauche conformational transformation of…
Sintering of Ultrathin Gold Nanowires for Transparent Electronics
Maurer, Johannes H. M.; González-García, Lola; Reiser, Beate; Kanelidis, Ioannis; Kraus, Tobias
Ultrathin gold nanowires (AuNWs) with diameters below 2 nm and high aspect ratios are considered to be a promising base material for transparent electrodes. To achieve the conductivity expected for this system, oleylamine must be removed. Herein we present the first study on the conductivity, optical transmission, stability, and structure…
Small-Angle Scattering Analysis of Empty or Loaded Hierarchical Porous Materials
Gommes, Cedric J.; Prieto, Gonzalo; de Jongh, Petra E.
Small-angle scattering of X-rays (SAXS) or neutrons (SANS) is one of the few experimental methods that can in principle be used for the in situ study at the mesoscopic scale of physicochemical phenomena occurring inside nanoporous solids. However, the potential of the method is often limited by the lack of…
Solvothermal Vapor Annealing of Lamellar Poly(styrene)-block-poly(d,l-lactide) Block Copolymer Thin Films for Directed Self-Assembly Application
Cummins, Cian; Mokarian-Tabari, Parvaneh; Andreazza, Pascal; Sinturel, Christophe; Morris, Michael A.
Solvothermal vapor annealing (STVA) was employed to induce microphase separation in a lamellar forming block copolymer (BCP) thin film containing a readily degradable block. Directed self-assembly of poly(styrene)-block-poly(d,l-lactide) (PS-b-PLA) BCP films using topographically patterned silicon nitride was demonstrated with alignment over macroscopic areas. Interestingly, we observed lamellar…
Spinning Hierarchical Gold Nanowire Microfibers by Shear Alignment and Intermolecular Self-Assembly
Reiser, Beate; Gerstner, Dominik; Gonzalez-Garcia, Lola; Maurer, Johannes H. M.; Kanelidis, Ioannis; Kraus, Tobias
Hierarchical structures lend strength to natural fibers made of soft nanoscale building blocks. Intermolecular interactions connect the components at different levels of hierarchy, distribute stresses, and guarantee structural integrity under load. Here, we show that synthetic ultrathin gold nanowires with interacting ligand shells can be spun into biomimetic, free-standing microfibers.…