Polymer Chemistry Commons^™

Thermally Induced Color Changes In Iron Oxide Containing Coatings, Tabatha Whitfield

Master's Theses

Wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires and residential conflagrations present significant challenges for post-fire damage and fire propagation analysis. CAL FIRE observed reddening in architectural coatings during the 2025 Pacific Palisades fire with no determination of the cause. While heat-induced color change of infrastructure coatings has been studied, its potential use as a thermal exposure indicator in residential fire events remains largely unexplored. The objective of this study was to characterize the heat-induced color change of yellow iron oxide containing coatings subjected to thermal exposures, replicating residential fire conditions. The coatings were applied to commonly used building materials and exposed to direct …

Thermally Induced Color Changes In Iron Oxide Pigments Used In Architectural Coatings, Han Diep

Master's Theses

The 2025 Palisades Fire was one of the most destructive wildfires in the history of Los Angeles, destroying thousands of structures and severely impacting the communities after. This widespread destruction demonstrated an urgent need for more effective wildfire prevention strategies. Architectural coatings do not only provide aesthetics and protection against environmental conditions but can also function as a thermal indicator when a fire breaks out. This study examines the thermally induced color transformation of iron oxide pigments, commonly used in earthtone paint, to provide information relevant to CAL FIRE for improved analysis of wildland-urban interface (WUI) fire behavior and mitigation …

Evaluation Of Solar Reflective Pigments For Use In Direct-To-Metal Coatings, William J. Diment

Master's Theses

Solar reflective coatings offer a promising strategy to mitigate the urban heat island effect by reducing absorption of near-infrared solar energy. This thesis project investigates the feasibility of incorporating near-infrared reflective pigments into waterborne direct-to-metal (DTM) latex coating systems while maintaining acceptable color comparison characteristics and coating performance. An all acrylic latex DTM formulation with titanium dioxide as the sole pigment was prepared and tinted with a variety of conventional and solar reflective commercial colorants across the yellow, red, blue, and green color ranges. Coatings were evaluated for solar reflectance, CIELAB color, gloss, contrast ratio, rheological behavior, accelerated ultraviolet weathering …

Characterization Of The Thermally Driven Red Hue Effect In Coated And Uncoated Concrete Systems: Implications For Post-Fire Assessment In Wildland Urban Interface Communities, Juan C. Palominos Jr

Master's Theses

The increasing frequency and intensity of Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) wildfires, such as the destructive 2025 Pacific Palisades Fire that destroyed over 6,000 structures, have underscored the urgent need for rapid post-fire safety assessment methodologies. This study sought to quantitatively characterize the Thermally Driven Red Hue Effect (TRHE), a unique, irreversible color shift observed in architectural coatings and concrete substrates, to determine its reliability as a permanent visual record of thermal exposure. Concrete substrates were formulated with three distinct coarse aggregates: gold granite (14.7% Fe), red cinder (22.4% Fe), and green rock (33.6% Fe) and coated with a 20 PVC waterborne …

N-Aryl Phenoxazines As Polymer Supported Photocatalysts, Mary Kathryn Hall

Master's Theses

In photosynthesis, the energy of sunlight is perfectly harnessed to facilitate the production of small molecules that are essential for plant life on earth. Inspired by this model of energy efficiency and simplicity, this work seeks to mimic that ability to use the energy in visible light to perform new and more efficient chemistries. Just like in photosynthesis, photocatalysts can act as chromophores absorbing light to excite electrons opening new pathways for previously untapped reactivity. Recent research has provided a wide range of small molecule reactions that are made possible or easier by the use of a photocatalyst. However, these …

Drug Delivery, Disulfide Crosslinked Hydrogel Coating For Polydimethylsiloxane (Pdms) Implant Materials, Paul A. Contos, Paul Anthony Contos

Master's Theses

Though polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is often used in medical devices due to its desirable mechanical properties and biocompatibility, its surface is often prone to bacterial adhesion. This is especially a problem for catheters, where bacteria can adhere and form biofilms that can in turn result in Urinary Tract Infections (UTI). In order to deter the presence of UTI causing bacteria on PDMS catheters, methods were developed to formulate a disulfide crosslinked hydrogel coating and create a methodology to allow adhesion to a PDMS substrate. The hydrogel coating discussed in this paper will be synthesized by chemically crosslinking stimuli-responsive vesicles, that carry …

Structural Color Pigments For Waterborne Coatings, Kyle William Liston

Master's Theses

Structural colors offer unique alternatives to conventional pigments, utilizing their microstructures to produce vibrant colors. These pigments offer an alternative source for colorants without the need for less environmentally friendly conventional pigments. In keeping with the sustainability approach, the use of waterborne coatings was chosen over solvent-based coatings. Here we report the synthesis of brushite platelet, silica supraball, and inverse opal pigments. Brushite platelets were produced through a condensation reaction, while silica supraballs were synthesized via the Stöber process and assembly was attempted using an oil-in-water emulsion. Inverse opal was produced through the templating of silica on poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) …

Catalyzed Chemical Recycling Of Poly(Ethylene Terephthalate) For Enhanced Sustainability, Gilberto J. Hernandez-Leypon Jr.

Master's Theses

Plastics are ubiquitous in the production of consumer and industrial products; their chemical stability, low cost of production, and performance versatility make them the best option for many industries. Their inherent benefits, specifically durability, is the basis for the negative environmental impact of polymers. Improper containment of endof-life polymer products causes unintentional migration into the environment. The monomers for many common polymer types are also fossil fuel based further increasing the environmental impact of the plastic lifecycle. Recycling is a possible method of closing the loop of the plastic lifecycle. Currently most recycling is physical, thermally reprocessing used plastics into …

Myceli-Yum: Elucidating Structure-Property Relationships For Polymer Degradation By Mycelial Digestion, Jordan Scott Ford

Master's Theses

Since the industrial entrance of polymer plastic materials, plastic has become ubiquitous in both everyday use and waste. Due to inefficiencies and knowledge gaps, current recycling methods are not able to account for the high scale of plastic waste, resulting in the bulk of this waste being landfilled, mishandled, and deposited in the environment. Mycelium, the microorganism responsible for fruiting mushroom bodies and mold growth, holds potential to reduce plastic waste and can potentially be utilized as a method of industrial recycling. Following a drug-design approach, the active site of mycelial enzymes responsible for natural biopolymer degradation have been assessed …

Comparing Machine Learning Paired Optimization Strategies For Single-Component Waterborne Direct-To-Metal Coatings, Harvir S. Kalkat

Master's Theses

As R&D attempts to fine tune properties before production, the redesign and testing process can become highly iterative. The repetitive nature of formulating can be difficult to escape when relying on chemical intuition alone. To provide some guidance in this process, machine learning (ML) can leverage data from previous trials¹ to design suggestions for subsequent trials. Although ML capabilities have vastly expanded in the last few years, integration of ML into chemistry R&D and education has been slow. Unraveling the mystique of ML can help change what has been a slow embrace in the coatings industry. It is important …

Modulation Of Optoelectronic Properties Of Electron Rich Pyrrolopyrroles Via Peripheral Alterations, Lillian Daniel

Master's Theses

Understanding structure-property relationships of π-conjugated chromophores based on peripheral functionalization is important for the continued development of various organic electronic applications. 1,4-Dihydropyrrolo[3,2-b]pyrroles (DHPPs) are synthetically simple chromophores with tailorable optical and electrochemical properties based on the functionalities of the starting materials. The overarching goal of this thesis is to understand how peripheral functionalization strategies enable distinctly different optical and electrochemical properties that may be useful for various applications. Motivated by the synthetic simplicity and tunability of DHPPs, molecules with varying design motifs were synthesized to exhibit how functionality influences optical and electrochemical properties. First, two molecules with varying …

Nanoparticles And The Environment: Biopolymer Grafted Cellulose And Screen-Printed Carbon Nanotube Composites, Dominique Henry Porcincula

Master's Theses

A host of environmental issues will define the state of the environment in the 21^st century, with plastic pollution and water shortages among them. While solutions to these problems require large-scale, multipronged solutions, one way we can address them is through material innovation and the use of nanoparticles.

In the first project, we address the issue of plastic pollution by creating nanocomposites of biodegradable polymers (PLA and PCL) with cellulose nanofibrils. Here, PLA and PCL are grafted from the surface of cellulose nanofibrils via ring-opening polymerization of cyclic ester monomers. Polymer-grafted cellulose (PGC) is characterized with structural analysis, solubility …

Functional Nanocomposite Coatings For Use In Food Packaging, Camden N. Webb

Master's Theses

Plastics are a class of materials known for their cost and property advantages, increasing significantly in their usage worldwide. Unfortunately, these benefits come with an increasingly concerning environmental impact. A combination of inadequate disposal options and combinations of materials have led to environmental disasters that will impact generations. One of the worst areas for plastic waste is food packaging. Plastic as a material generally excels at durability and longevity, but as food packaging, it outlives its intended purpose by several orders of magnitude. This leads to plastic food packaging materials sitting in landfill or leading to the environment for hundreds …

Chitosan Graphene Composite Fabrication And Characterization For Treatment Of Harmful Algal Blooms And Toxins, Sarah Zetterholm

Master's Theses

Chitosan graphene composites were fabricated and characterized as a management strategy for harmful algal blooms (HABs) caused by various species of cyanobacteria. These chitosan graphene materials were compared to previously studied chitosan graphene-oxide composites in both material properties and HAB treatment. In previous studies, adsorption of the cyanobacteria onto the surface of the composite materials has been observed. Investigations of the pure materials for these composites are also included in this study to determine whether removal is a result of charge interactions with the composite, or as an inherent property of the graphene or graphene oxide. Initial results suggest that …

The Effect Of Reaction Conditions On The Nucleation And Particle Growth Of A Colloidal Covalent Organic Framework, Brendan Posson

Master's Theses

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are a novel class of crystalline materials with regular porosity, high specific surface area, and various linkage chemistries. Conventional chemical syntheses of these materials lead to the formation of bulk powders characterized as polycrystalline aggregates. Synthesizing these materials as colloidal systems is an effective means to prevent aggregation and achieve larger single-crystalline domain sizes. In this thesis, I describe the effect of temperature and transimination catalyst strength on COF particle nucleation and particle growth. Morphology and crystallinity of the COF-300 particles were confirmed using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The onset of colloidal …

Pressure Driven Desalination Utilizing Nanomaterials, Fangyou Xie

Master's Theses

Nanomaterials such as graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes, have demonstrated excellent properties for membrane desalination, including decrease of maintenance, increase of flux rate, simple solution casting, and impressive chemical inertness. Here, two projects are studied to investigate nanocarbon based membrane desalination. The first project is to prepare hybrid membranes with amyloid fibrils intercalated with graphene oxide sheets. The addition of protein amyloid fibrils expands the interlayer spacing between graphene oxide nanosheets and introduces additional functional groups in the diffusion pathways, resulting in increase of flux rate and rejection rate for the organic dyes. Amyloid fibrils also provide structural assistance to …

Rheological Studies Of Fully-Formulated Coatings Thickened With Heur: Effects Of Surfactants, Brandon M. Bonilla

Master's Theses

Rheology modifiers such as hydrophobically-modified ethoxylated urethane (HEUR)thickeners are included in waterborne latex coatings to optimize shear-rate dependent viscosity and other rheological properties. While these HEUR polymers are commonly used in industry, the complex chemical interactions that contribute to rheological properties are still not completely understood. Prior work in this area has focused on understanding latex-HEUR and latex-surfactant-HEUR interactions that affect rheological properties. Additionally, studies have been previously conducted to understand the relaxation mechanisms of complex interactions present in HEUR-thickened waterborne latex coatings under various dynamic conditions. The objective of this work is to extend the experimental work to fully-formulated …

Antibacterial Coatings Derived From Novel Chemically Responsive Vesicles, Emily B. Mobley

Master's Theses

In order for a drug, or any material used for the purpose of eliciting a change in an organisms’ physical or chemical state, to be effective it must reach the intended target intact and for a sustained rate over time. Drug delivery systems encapsulate a drug to protect it from degradation, prevent side reactions, increase solubility, improve accumulation rates at target sites, and release drugs at a controlled rate. Controlled and sustained release of drugs is achieved by degradation of the carrier triggered by breaking dynamic chemical bonds caused by changes in the chemical environment such as pH or redox …

Altering An Epoxy-Amine Thermoset's Performance Through Varying Mix Ratios, Kiersten M. Smith

Master's Theses

Epoxy resins are used in a number of different industries and therefore have application-specific material requirements, from satellites that require materials that operate in space, to paints and coatings that require high scratch resistance and mechanical durability, to medical devices, designed to be in continuous contact with biological fluids. Commercial epoxy products come with manufacturer’s information explaining the epoxy properties and recommended preparation processing conditions, which may include epoxy resin to curing agent mix ratio (Part A : Part B), cure time, and cure temperature, for example. Due to proprietary reasons, it can be difficult to understand why these values …

Effect Of Polymer Design And Coating Formulation On The Water Uptake And Sensitivity Of Acrylic Water-Borne Films, William Z. Thompson

Master's Theses

Water-borne latex coatings represent a safer, more user-friendly, and environmentally responsible alternative to solvent-borne coatings, and are growing in popularity each year. However, these coatings often exhibit unfavorable performance when exposed to water for extended periods of time. This prolonged exposure often results in water uptake, which may give rise to other detrimental effects such as a decrease in modulus, blushing or water-whitening, reduced serviceable life, and softening of the film. In this study, various polymer composition latex design spaces are studied to develop an understanding of how water uptake can be modulated and minimized using common synthetic approaches. Factors …

Thiol-Ene Click Chemistry For Solid State Triplet-Triplet Annihilation Upconversion And Parts-Per-Billion Pyrophosphate Sensing In Artificial Seawater, Abagail K. Williams

Master's Theses

Thiol-ene click chemistry is a robust approach to molecularly engineering polymers for many applications. Within this work, thiol-ene click chemistry is used to fabricate thiol-ene networks for TTA-UC and to synthesize a conjugated polyelectrolyte (CPE) used as a pyrophosphate (PPi) sensor in complex aqueous media. Chapter I focuses on the synthesis and upconversion performance of rubbery networks fabricated using thiol-ene click photopolymerization. The advancement of triplet-triplet annihilation based upconversion (TTA-UC) in emerging technologies necessitates the development of solid-state systems that are readily accessible and broadly applicable. We demonstrate that thiol-ene click chemistry can be used as a facile cure-on-demand synthetic …

Investigation On The Morphology Of Charge-Transfer Complexes In Low Density Polyethylene, Wade Korf

Master's Theses

Fillers are used ubiquitously throughout the fields of polymer and material science to overcome many inherent limitations to polymeric materials (i.e. poor stiffness or strength) and to expand their potential applications. There is a need to develop controllable particle architectures to better understand fundamental structure-property relationships in particle reinforced polymer composites. Charge-transfer complexes (CTCs) can assemble in situ into various needle and dendritic shapes via simple fabrication processes and at low loading levels. In this study, the effect of tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) and 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) CTC crystallites of various shapes and sizes on composite mechanical properties was investigated in an LDPE …

Implementation Of Multivariate Artificial Neural Networks Coupled With Genetic Algorithms For The Multi-Objective Property Prediction And Optimization Of Emulsion Polymers, David Chisholm

Master's Theses

Machine learning has been gaining popularity over the past few decades as computers have become more advanced. On a fundamental level, machine learning consists of the use of computerized statistical methods to analyze data and discover trends that may not have been obvious or otherwise observable previously. These trends can then be used to make predictions on new data and explore entirely new design spaces. Methods vary from simple linear regression to highly complex neural networks, but the end goal is similar. The application of these methods to material property prediction and new material discovery has been of high interest …

Rheological Investigations Of Latex-Surfactant-Associative Thickener Aqueous Systems, Bishop I. Hammack

Master's Theses

Surfactants and Thickeners are both additives used in fully-formulated waterborne coatings to provide colloidal stability, thickening, and other functionality. The behavior of each ingredient in a coating must be understood and controlled to maintain colloidal stability as well as balance other desired properties of the liquid coating and the dry paint film. In this work, quaternary systems of Water-Latex-Thickener-Surfactant were investigated to further the understanding of their behavior in coatings. The thickener used was a well characterized, hydrophobically-modified, ethoxylated urethane (HEUR) with two C18 terminal hydrophobes and 795 average repeat units of ethylene oxide as the hydrophilic spacer. Two latexes, …

Electropolymerization Of Polyaniline In The Presence Of Ferricyanide: Electrochemical, Spectroscopic And Gravimetric Studies, Lucas Marinelli

Master's Theses

In this work, ferricyanide-doped polyaniline (PANI) is electropolymerized by constant current and cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements with simultaneous monitoring of mass changes using electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (eQCM). Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and CV measurements confirm the incorporation of the ferricyanide into the film and indicate modified electrical conductivity. UV-Vis absorbance spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy confirm the conducting ‘emeraldine-salt’ state and confirm the presence of polarons, i.e. charge carriers.

The addition of ferricyanide during electropolymerization of the PANI film results in an increase of polymerization rate as confirmed using eQCM. A decrease in counter ion ingress/egress and an …

Influence Of High Aspect Ratio Nanoparticle Filler Addition On Piezoelectric Nanocomposites, Jeremy A. Armas

Master's Theses

Piezoelectric nanogenerators (PNGs) are a new class of energy harvesting materials that show potential as a direct energy source for low powered electronics. Recently, piezoelectric polymers have been utilized for PNG technology due to low toxicity, high flexibility, and facile solution processing which provide manufacturing opportunities such as screen printing. Throughout the last decade, countless projects have focused on how to enhance the energy harvesting capabilities of these PNGs through the incorporation of nanoparticle fillers, which have been reported to enhance the piezoelectric properties of the film either directly through their intrinsic piezoelectric properties or through acting as surfaces for …

Multi-Scale Assembly Methodologies Of Poly(3-Hexylthiophene) Derivative Systems For Enhanced Optoelectronic Anisotropy, David William Bilger

Master's Theses

Conjugated polymers represent a class of semi-conducting materials with numerous applications in optoelectronic devices, including organic light-emitting diodes, field-effect transistors, and photovoltaics. Because of the numerous advantages of macromolecular systems, including solution processing and mechanical flexibility, conjugated polymers have become a burgeoning field of research with the hopes of producing cost-effective solution-based electronics. Importantly, optoelectronic device performance is heavily influenced by conjugated polymer backbone orientation and overall thin film morphology. As such, the processing conditions of these systems are important to the construction of high- performance optoelectronics. Polythiophenes are model conjugated polymers that have been studied extensively in halogenated organic …

Development Of A Humidity-Resistant Coating To Impart High Oxygen Barrier Performance To Food Packaging Films, Ryan Yinghua Cox

Master's Theses

Oxygen barrier coatings have the potential to greatly extend the lifetime of certain food products by incorporating them into existing food packaging. Present technologies face definite challenges of maintaining high performance, while attaining simple and inexpensive preparation methods. The oxygen barrier effect obtained with these coatings is also susceptible to a plasticization effect when exposed to high humidity, since water vapor molecules are readily soluble in typically hydrophilic resins. In this work, we demonstrate a 1 – 2 micron thick oxygen barrier coating, prepared on a 12 micron poly(ethylene terephthalate) substrate, that has oxygen transmission rates as low as 1.44 …

Structure-Property Relationships Of Polyisobutylene-Block-Polyamide Thermoplastic Elastomers, Morgan Dunn Heskett

Master's Theses

Thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) are a class of polymer fit for a wide variety of applications due to their customizability. In the synthesis of these types of materials, an elastically-performing polymer, deemed the “soft block,” is combined with a stiffer “hard block” polymer, each of which can be selected based on their own specific properties in order to achieve desired material behavior in the final copolymer. Recently, the use of polyisobutylene as a soft block in combination with a polyamide hard block has been investigated for use in TPE synthesis. While the material showed some promising behavior, many properties were still …

A Comparison Of Solvent And Water-Borne Alkyd Coatings And The History Of Voc Regulations In The United States, Molly Elise Burns

Master's Theses

A Comparison of Solvent and Water-Borne Alkyd Coatings Abstract

Conventional solvent based alkyd coatings have gone out of favor due to concerns over volatile organic compound (VOC) content. However, due to recent focus on renewable raw materials, alkyds are making a comeback in waterborne form. Water based alkyd coatings are known to have poor shelf stability and corrosion resistance, as well as other problems during the formulation process. This project focused on comparing solvent borne to two types of water-borne alkyds, water reducible alkyds and alkyds emulsions. The purpose was to understand the differences between the three types of alkyds …