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Full-Text Articles in Chemistry

Controlling Mechanical Properties Of Well-Defined Polymer Networks, Ipek Sacligil Apr 2023

Controlling Mechanical Properties Of Well-Defined Polymer Networks, Ipek Sacligil

Doctoral Dissertations

Polymer networks are one of the most versatile and highly studied material class that revolutionized many aspects of life. Connecting the final network properties to the molecular parameters of its building blocks remains a major research thrust. Recent advances in network synthesis techniques allowed for accurate predictions of elastic modulus in model networks. Tew Group has developed highly efficient, thiol-norbornene networks with controllable mechanical properties. Chapter 2 focuses on modifying the gel fracture energy predicted by Lake-Thomas theory by accounting for loop defects. This study allowed for a priori estimates of gel fracture energy by combining theory, experiments, and simulations. …


Effect Of Chemical Identity And Morphology On Amphiphilic-Zwitterionic Block Copolymer Membranes, Ria Ghosh Apr 2023

Effect Of Chemical Identity And Morphology On Amphiphilic-Zwitterionic Block Copolymer Membranes, Ria Ghosh

Doctoral Dissertations

Amphiphilic block copolymers have gained a broad research interest attributed to their self-assembly properties over a range of pH, temperature, and ionic strength. Polyzwitterions have attracted special attention due to their hydrophilicity, charge sensitivity and coulombic attraction of the opposite charges over a range of environments making them a popular material of study in the field of stimuli responsive systems, for example in self-healing hydrogels, and water transport membranes. Combining the stimuli responsiveness and higher hydrophilicity of zwitterionic polymers with self-assembly behavior of amphiphilic block copolymers created an interest to study the effect of composition and identity of the zwitterionic …


Vapor Deposition Of Self-Wrinkling Polymer Films, Robert N. Enright Apr 2023

Vapor Deposition Of Self-Wrinkling Polymer Films, Robert N. Enright

Doctoral Dissertations

Initiated chemical vapor deposition is used to grow polymer films on substrates of various three-dimensional shapes which exhibit wrinkling during film growth, termed self-wrinkling. Self-wrinkling avoids separate film growth and compression steps and more-closely mimics processes observed in nature. The self-wrinkling process is elucidated on flat elastic substrates, revealing control over the amount of compressive stress by changing deposition conditions. Next, a study of films grown on liquid substrates with interface profiles that either resemble cylinders or contain repeating concave cones, saddles, and bowls affirms the principle that the wrinkle roundness increases with interface curvature. The selection of high versus …