Article
Polymer Science
Alexey S. Merekalov, Yaroslav I. Derikov, Vladimir V. Artemov, Alexander A. Ezhov, Yaroslav V. Kudryavtsev
Summary: The study investigates the morphological transition between hexagonal and lamellar patterns in thin polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinyl pyridine) films under the influence of a strong in-plane electric field and saturated solvent vapor. Standing cylinders made of 4-vinyl pyridine blocks arrange into threads that partially merge into standing lamellas, remaining strongly segregated with minor component domains maintaining connectivity between film surfaces. The addition of Au nanorods to the cylinders can enhance the ordering tendency.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Zhipeng Li, Zeyu Zhang, Jia Liu, Ruixue Zhu, Binghui Ge, Yueliang Li, Xin Zhang, Peng Gao, Dawei Wang, Xiaoguang Xu, Wenhuai Tian, Yong Jiang
Summary: A universal method to achieve a polarization-enhanced interface by tuning the distribution of oxygen in BaTiO3 films is demonstrated. The research suggests that the inhomogeneity of oxygen and interfacial charges could induce an electric field and further enhance the interfacial polarization.
ADVANCED ELECTRONIC MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Polymer Science
Manjula Senanayake, Dipak Aryal, Gary S. Grest, Dvora Perahia
Summary: This study investigates the interfacial response of a symmetric block copolymer in different polar solvents using molecular dynamics simulations. The hydrophobic blocks initially dominate the interfacial response at the film boundary, while the distribution of solvents among different blocks determines the chemical composition and polymer conformation at the interface over time. These simulations offer direct molecular insight into the interfacial response of ionizable copolymers.
Article
Polymer Science
Ki Hyun Kim, Mincheol Kim, Junsoo Moon, June Huh, Joona Bang
Summary: In this study, bottlebrush copolymers were designed as neutral additives to block copolymer (BCP) thin films, achieving vertically oriented microdomains through architectural effects. This concept could potentially be extended to various applications requiring polymer films with functional surfaces.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Mengze Ma, Yao Fu
Summary: The electromechanical responses of lamellar neutral-charged diblock copolymers in thin films under an applied electric field were investigated using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations. The effects of the electric field on ion transport, morphological changes, and stress distribution were studied in detail, particularly focusing on ion dissociation and stress distribution under strong electric fields. The different stages of copolymer evolution under the electric field were characterized, paving the way towards establishing a modeling scheme for describing the response of ionic polymers in the presence of an applied electric field.
CHEMICAL PHYSICS LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Polymer Science
Mingyang Chen, Yuguo Chen, Yanyan Zhu, Ying Jiang, David Andelman, Xingkun Man
Summary: We investigated the influence of chain flexibility on the self-assembly behavior of symmetric diblock copolymers (BCPs) in thin film confinement. Using worm-like chain (WLC) self-consistent field theory, we studied the stability of parallel and perpendicular orientations of BCP lamellar phases under varying chain flexibilities. The results showed that the stability of perpendicular lamellae increases with chain rigidity, except for the case of rigid chains on rough substrates where the stability decreases. We also demonstrated the effect of substrate roughness on the critical value of substrate preference for the transition from perpendicular-to-parallel lamellar phases.
Article
Polymer Science
Sherif Madkour, Marcel Gawek, Andreas Hertwig, Andreas Schoenhals
Summary: The thermodynamic behavior of thin PVME films with an irreversible adsorbed layer on the substrate was studied. Various techniques, including leaching, AFM, ellipsometry, and dielectric spectroscopy, were used to investigate growth kinetics, critical film thickness, influence on glass transition temperature, and molecular dynamics of the adsorbed layer. The study revealed strong percolation effects of the adsorbed layer on thin films.
Review
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Changhang Huang, Yanyan Zhu, Xingkun Man
Summary: Block copolymers (BCPs) are a special type of polymeric system with chemically distinct homopolymer blocks tethered together, used in bulk and thin film forms for nanotechnology applications. Progress in tailoring mesoscopic and nanoscopic structures of BCP thin films using external fields relies on precise control of structural orientation, local alignment, and long-range ordering, with conventional polymer field theory and numerical solution schemes playing a key role. Experimental and theoretical insights into the next generation of strategies for obtaining desired BCP thin film patterns and their industrial applications are also provided.
PHYSICS REPORTS-REVIEW SECTION OF PHYSICS LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Magdalena Konefal, Peter Cernoch, Vitalii Patsula, Ewa Pavlova, Jiri Dybal, Karol Zaleski, Alexander Zhigunov
Summary: The study demonstrated that Fe3O4@PAA nanoparticles can selectively segregate inside P4VP domains, enhancing the microphase separation process and resulting in highly ordered nanostructured thin films. The addition of these nanoparticles does not alter the average interdomain spacing in the film lateral nanostructure, and they can be easily removed to obtain well-ordered nanoporous templates.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2021)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Daniel W. Weller, Guorong Ma, Luke A. Galuska, Song Zhang, Michael Stringer, Sophia Aracri, Weiyu Wang, Kunlun Hong, Xiaodan Gu
Summary: A new pore formation process was investigated for the manufacture of composite ultrafiltration membranes, utilizing the inherent ability of BCP to cavitate under strain for highly permeable and efficient membranes. The one-step membrane preparation process avoids tedious block removal steps. Different polymer types, molecular weights, and thicknesses influence the BCP's thin film morphology and ultimately filtration performance.
ACS APPLIED POLYMER MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Boyce S. Chang, Chen Li, Jinghang Dai, Katherine Evans, Jingyu Huang, Mengdi He, Weili Hu, Zhiting Tian, Ting Xu
Summary: Thermal percolation, the rapid increase in thermal transport in polymer nanocomposites, is of great interest in thermal management. However, it remains a challenging subject in both experimental and modeling aspects. Previous studies on thermal percolation have mainly focused on high-aspect-ratio, conductive fillers. This study demonstrates that thermal percolation can be achieved even with nonconductive spherical fillers at a low volume fraction. Additionally, the effects of volume fraction, interfacial thermal resistance, and filler conductivity on thermal conductivity are found to deviate from effective medium approximations.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2022)
Article
Polymer Science
Anabella A. Abate, Cristian M. Piqueras, Daniel A. Vega
Summary: When a cylinder forming triblock copolymer thin film is exposed to supercritical carbon dioxide, it undergoes an order-order phase transition from parallel to perpendicularly oriented cylinders. Defects modify the energetic barriers for nucleation during the phase transition, with topological defects in the primitive phase surviving the transition to provide a lower bound for the density of defects in the post-transitional phase. Control over the orientational order in the primitive phase can be used to manipulate order and defects in the transversely isotropic hexagonal pattern.
Article
Physics, Applied
Lingfang Xu, Minghang Song, Wenjun Yi, Hanshuo Fang, Ruilong Wang, Shiheng Liang, Haibo Xiao, Changping Yang
Summary: This paper investigates the effect of electric field amplitude (E-0) and frequency (f) on the dynamic hysteresis in organic ferroelectric copolymer thin films. Three stages of hysteresis area vs field strength are observed. In the first stage, the area (<A>) follows a proportional relationship with E-0, while the distribution of <A> varies with frequency f. In the second stage, the relationship between <A> and E-0(beta) is not applicable, but a relationship of <A> proportional to f(-0.18636) is found. In the third stage, a scaling law is observed with <A> proportional to f(0.08447)E(0)(0.49394) indicating the presence of chiral domains.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Chongyong Nam, Jeong Gon Son, YongJoo Kim, Won Bo Lee
Summary: Shear-induced lamellar alignment of a thin-film ABA triblock copolymer melt was achieved using a non-equilibrium coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation. The phase behavior of the ABA triblock copolymer system was slightly different from that of the AB diblock copolymer system under different shear conditions. The Flory-Huggins parameter was considered in our study as a factor determining lamellar alignment, unlike previous studies that only considered wall velocity.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Aislan Esmeraldo Paiva, Jhonattan Frank Baez Vasquez, Tatiana S. Perova, Fernanda G. L. Medeiros Borsagli, Michael Morris
Summary: This research focused on the selective metal infiltration of a pyridine-containing block copolymer in a liquid-phase setting. The study found that metal cations interact differently with the poly(2-vinylpyridine) component, and that the oxidation state and type of cation are crucial for the infiltration process, which is also influenced by the solvent used. While silver did not effectively infiltrate, nickel and chromium were able to reproduce the pattern of the block copolymer. These differences can be attributed to the coordination of pyridinic nitrogen and the metal, as well as p-interactions. Additionally, the presence of oxyanions enhanced the infiltration of chromium and facilitated the formation of a highly faithful ordered metal oxide layer.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Shuyan Yang, Nassim Hemmati, Thomas Russell, Abbas Zeinijahromi, Sara Borazjani, Aron Behr, Luis Genolet, Pavel Bedrikovetsky
Summary: This study focuses on analyzing the three-dimensional effects in short cores during steady-state tests for relative permeability and capillary pressure. It was found that although 3D flow effects influenced the measurement data, the agreement between K-r and P-c obtained from 3D and 1D models was close, with the Spiral distributor showing lower 3D flow effects and more accurate determination of relative permeability and capillary pressure from SSTT tests.
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yixuan Yin, Tan Liu, Beibei Wang, Bangqi Yin, Yang Yang, Thomas P. Russell, Shaowei Shi
Summary: By using the interfacial complexation of a polyelectrolyte (PE) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), a unique interfacial PE/CNC complex is demonstrated for stabilizing aqueous two-phase systems and fabricating all-aqueous double emulsions and 3D constructs.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xiaohui Meng, Yan Qiao, Changwoo Do, Wim Bras, Chunyong He, Yubin Ke, Thomas P. Russell, Dong Qiu
Summary: This research successfully achieved a hysteresis-free material by using a low-crosslink-density polyacrylamide hydrogel with hyperbranched silica nanoparticles. These resilient hydrogels exhibit fatigue-free characteristics under large deformations and can accurately detect dynamic deformations.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Tan Liu, Yixuan Yin, Yang Yang, Thomas P. Russell, Shaowei Shi
Summary: The immobilization of enzymes within microfluidic chips has proven to enhance biocatalysis and biomass conversion. A newly developed all-liquid microfluidic chip utilizes a layer-by-layer assembly strategy with polysaccharide multilayers to greatly improve mechanical properties of microchannels, creating a biocompatible environment for enzyme immobilization. This approach has been shown to enhance enzyme loading and catalytic efficiency in all-liquid microfluidic enzymatic and cascade reactors using horseradish peroxidase and glucose oxidase as model enzymes.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Beibei Wang, Bangqi Yin, Zhao Zhang, Yixuan Yin, Yang Yang, Haiqiao Wang, Thomas P. Russell, Shaowei Shi
Summary: By using the interactions between nanoparticles and polymeric ligands, nanoparticle surfactants can be generated at the liquid-liquid interface, increasing the binding energy. Through a simplified model, it is found that competitive ligands can reduce the binding energy, leading to the dissociation and disassembly of the surfactants at the interface and allowing the construction of responsive and reconfigurable all-liquid systems.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2022)
Article
Polymer Science
Marcel U. Brown, Hong-Gyu Seong, Khatcher O. Margossian, Lauren Bishop, Thomas P. Russell, Murugappan Muthukumar, Todd Emrick
Summary: Polymer zwitterions have various applications, but the variation in their chemical composition is limited. This article highlights the use of 4-vinylbenzyl sultone as a precursor to ammonium sulfonate zwitterionic monomers, which are then used to synthesize inverted sulfobetaine polymer zwitterions.
MACROMOLECULAR RAPID COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ganhua Xie, Pei Li, Paul Y. Kim, Pei-Yang Gu, Brett A. Helms, Paul D. Ashby, Lei Jiang, Thomas P. Russell
Summary: Water-walking insects use capillary forces to climb or descend the meniscus between water surface and a solid object by changing body posture, which inspired the development of autonomous aquatic synthetic systems that can shuttle cargo underground between landing and drop-off sites. By controlling the contact angle of a coacervate sac or hydrogel droplet, cyclic cargo shuttling can occur continuously as long as reactants from the surrounding aqueous phase are not depleted, potentially leading to applications in autonomously driven reaction or delivery systems and micro-/milli-robotics.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Pei-Yang Gu, Paul Y. Kim, Yu Chai, Paul D. Ashby, Qing-Feng Xu, Feng Liu, Qun Chen, Jian-Mei Lu, Thomas P. Russell
Summary: Understanding the dynamic processes during the printing of one liquid in a second immiscible liquid is crucial for exploiting all-liquid 3D architectures. This study demonstrates the interfacial assembly and transition of nanoparticle surfactants during all-liquid printing, by monitoring the formation of J-aggregates and their conversion to H-aggregates. The chromogenic changes of the aggregates provide a simple means for assessing the mechanical properties of the assemblies.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Shizhen Zhao, Hongkun Yang, Dong Wang, Thomas P. Russell
Summary: The study introduces a simple and efficient strategy for modifying epoxy dynamic polymer networks by incorporating the epoxidized form of soybean oil. This modification significantly enhances the mechanical properties, stress relaxation rate, and malleability of the materials, while also reducing energy consumption during reprocessing. The resulting epoxy-based DPNs exhibit excellent self-healing, welding, and chemical degradation properties, making them a promising option for various applications.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Milad Kamkar, Elnaz Erfanian, Parisa Bazazi, Ahmadreza Ghaffarkhah, Farbod Sharif, Ganhua Xie, Aadithya Kannan, Mohammad Arjmand, S. Hossein Hejazi, Thomas P. Russell, Gerald G. Fuller, Uttandaraman Sundararaj
Summary: The assembly of graphene oxide (GO) at oil/water or air/water interfaces significantly increases the elasticity of the interface, making it an exceptional candidate for stabilizing the O/W interface. This super elastic character is utilized for all-liquid 2D printing, highlighting the potential applications in electronics, fluidic devices, and controlled release systems.
ADVANCED MATERIALS INTERFACES
(2022)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yang Yang, Kaijuan Li, Yaxin Wang, Zhanpeng Wu, Thomas P. Russell, Shaowei Shi
Summary: The development of MXene-based porous monoliths has shown diversity in terms of microstructures, focusing on pore design and how the porous microstructure affects application performance.
Article
Polymer Science
Qiming He, Yijun Qiao, Carlos Medina Jimenez, Ryan Hackler, Alex B. F. Martinson, Wei Chen, Matthew Tirrell
Summary: Zwitterionic brushes were synthesized and their structure was investigated using various techniques. The PCysMA brushes showed an antipolyelectrolyte effect related to the Hofmeister series of anions. The presence of divalent and trivalent ions had different impacts on the dimensions of the PCysMA brushes and their chelating interactions.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
HongRui He, Jonghun Lee, Zhang Jiang, Qiming He, Jelena Dinic, Wei Chen, Suresh Narayanan, Xiao-Min Lin
Summary: The macroscopic rheological response of a colloidal solution is highly related to its local microscopic structure, as shown by an in-situ Rheo-SAXS experiment. Oscillatory shear can induce a strain-controlled ordering-to-disorder transition, resulting in a shear-thickening process different from normal shear-thickening caused by hydrodynamics and particle friction. Different applied strains lead to complex time-dependent kinetics toward structural ordering, with the system oscillating between two dynamic metastable states.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY B
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yijun Qiao, Qiming He, Hsin-Hsiang Huang, Dean Mastropietro, Zhang Jiang, Hua Zhou, Yuhong Liu, Matthew V. Tirrell, Wei Chen
Summary: In this study, the response of polymer brushes to shear flow is explored using in situ X-ray reflectivity. The research investigates how poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS) brushes stretch and change in different environments, providing valuable insights into the behaviours and mechanisms that govern these responses.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Yuren Xiang, Yameng Cao, Wenqiang Yang, Rui Hu, Sebastian Wood, Bowei Li, Qin Hu, Fan Zhang, Jujie He, Mozhgan Yavari, Jinlai Zhao, Yunlong Zhao, Jun Song, Junle Qu, Rui Zhu, Thomas P. Russell, S. Ravi P. Silva, Wei Zhang
Summary: A recoverable laser-induced fluorescence quenching phenomenon was observed in perovskite films, indicating the impact of perovskite lattice deformation on transient optical properties. Adjusting charge carrier recombination can improve the bleaching resistance of perovskite grains.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL MATERIALS
(2022)
