| Self-assembly and directed
assembly of hybrid macromolecular systems |
Self-organization
of soft materials provides a promising bottom-up
approach to engineer hierarchically ordered hybrid
materials and presents a pathway to devise new composite
material architectures that benefit from their respective
microstructural as well as nanoscale-specific characteristics.
While previous studies of block copolymer/particle
equilibrium microstructures facilitated important
insights into the physics of self-organization of
multi-component materials, the technological application
of these materials is primarily hindered by the lack
of understanding of defect formation that is inherent
in self-organizing materials. Until now, the only
quantitative experimental results on the kinetics
and mechanism of block copolymer microdomain formation
and defect evolution are available for thin films.
The Bockstaller group is working to establish
a fundamental understanding of the defect formation
of bulk microstructured composite materials and on
developing opportunities that arise from the control
of defect formation in thin films. The UG student
will be studying the Effects of polymer architecture
and processing conditions on structure formation
processes in block copolymer/particle blends. |
|
|
|
|
