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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Effect Of Chemical Identity And Morphology On Amphiphilic-Zwitterionic Block Copolymer Membranes, Ria Ghosh
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 …
Enhancing The Intracellular Availability Of Protein Cargoes In Polymer-Mediated Delivery, Christopher R. Hango
Enhancing The Intracellular Availability Of Protein Cargoes In Polymer-Mediated Delivery, Christopher R. Hango
Doctoral Dissertations
Protein drugs, including antibodies, are rapidly emerging as the top-selling pharmaceuticals worldwide owing to their unparalleled specificity and biocompatibility. However, none of the currently-approved protein therapeutics act intracellularly, despite the vast majority of potential drug targets residing within the cell. This is due mainly to the paramount challenge of transporting hydrophilic macromolecular cargoes across the plasma membrane. As such, effective protein carriers are essential for the advancement of modern medicine. Despite significant advances, many challenges still plague protein delivery. Following membrane transduction, delivery vectors must preserve the structure and activity of their cargoes while transporting them to the correct subcellular …
Functional Nanocomposites From Self-Assembly Of Block Copolymers With Nanoparticles, Xinyu Wang
Functional Nanocomposites From Self-Assembly Of Block Copolymers With Nanoparticles, Xinyu Wang
Doctoral Dissertations
This dissertation studied the proper distribution and location control of nanoparticles (NPs) within block copolymer (BCP) templates. A facile ligand exchange reaction was introduced for the hydrophilic magnetic NPs (MNPs) that are readily dispersed in polar solvents with outstanding stability. Small molecule ligands were selected to associate strongly with particle surfaces, provide hydrophilic termini for polarity matching with polar solvents, and offer the potential for hydrogen-bonding interactions to facilitate NP incorporation into polymers. Areal ligand densities of NPs indicated a significant increase in the ligand coverage after the exchange reaction. Hydrophilic MNPs were shown to drive the self-assembly of BCPs …
Self-Assembly Of Block Copolymers For The Fabrication Of Functional Nanomaterials, Li Yao
Self-Assembly Of Block Copolymers For The Fabrication Of Functional Nanomaterials, Li Yao
Doctoral Dissertations
This dissertation explores the use of block copolymers which can self-assemble into different morphologies as templates to fabricate nanostructured materials. The first section (Chapters 2-4) reports the formation of mesoporous silica films with spherical, cylindrical and bicontinuous pores up to 40 nm in diameter through replicating the morphologies of the solid block copolymer (BCP) templates, polystyrene-b-poly(tert-butyl acrylate) (PS-b-PtBA), via phase selective condensation of tetraethylorthosilicate in supercritical CO2. Next, directed self-assembly was used to control the orientation of cylindrical domains in PS-b-PtBA templates. Large-area aligned mesochannels in silica films with diameters tunable between …