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Full-Text Articles in Physics
Establishing Independent Tunability Of The Mechanical And Transport Properties Of Polymer Gels, Lucas Rankin
Establishing Independent Tunability Of The Mechanical And Transport Properties Of Polymer Gels, Lucas Rankin
Master’s Theses
Polymer gels can be used in the fabrication of materials for filtering liquid and gaseous media, solid-state electrolytes, and transdermal medical patches. This diverse range of applications primarily relies on the transport and mechanical properties of polymer gels. Both sets of properties have shown excellent tunability, but typically in a coupled fashion. Establishing the independent tunability of the transport and mechanical properties of polymer gels (using simple, cost-effective methods) is paramount if polymer gels are to be used to their full potential. Specifically, block copolymer gels self-assemble into organized nanoscale networks within the gel solvent, which allows for facile control …
Morphology Characterization Of Low Band Gap Polymer-Based Organic Photovoltaics, Feng Liu
Morphology Characterization Of Low Band Gap Polymer-Based Organic Photovoltaics, Feng Liu
Doctoral Dissertations
In bulk heterojunction (BHJ) thin film organic photovoltaics (OPV), morphology control is critical to obtain good device efficiency. Nanoscale phase separation that creates bicontinuous interpenetrating structure on a size scale commensurate with exciton diffusion length (~10 nm) is thought to be the ideal morphology. Results obtained from this work indicate that morphology can be affected by chemical structure of the polymer, processing conditions, blending ratio and post treatments. Physical properties of the material, such as crystallinity, crystal orientation, material interactions and miscibility, surface energy and particle aggregations are critical for determining the morphology and thus the device performance. Previous investigations …