3 search hits
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Synthesis of reponsive homo- and block copolymers - application to the generation of inorganic-organic nanohybrids
(2010)
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Pierre-Eric Millard
- Responsive homopolymers and multi-responsive block copolymers were prepared via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Self-assembly in solution depending on environmental stimuli was investigated and exploited to create responsive micelles. New cross-linking strategies were thoroughly performed in aqueous solution to allow a controlled preservation and a high shape-persistence of the colloid particles, even when exposed to non-selective environmental conditions. The synthesis of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) was investigated by ATRP for subsequent polymer-protein nanohybrid generation. This temperature-responsive polymer was polymerized directly in pure water at a low temperature (4 ºC) by using a functional ATRP initiator which allows post-polymerization conjugation. Without the addition of Cu(II), the kinetics were extremely fast, typically less than one minute for a full conversion. By adjusting the ratio of Cu(I)/(Cu(II) and selecting a very active ligand, all polymerizations proceeded in a controlled fashion to near quantitative conversion without evidence of termination. N-isopropylacrylamide and acrylic acid (AA) were also homopolymerized by RAFT in aqueous media using a novel strategy. Instead of using a diazo-initiator, which generally decomposed at high temperatures, gamma-irradiation was used to initiate polymerization at ambient temperature. This type of radiation has many advantages. A very tiny and constant amount of radicals can be generated, which is perfect for the RAFT process. Moreover, the rate of initiation only has a low level of dependence on temperature and can be used in a wide range of temperatures. Finally, compared to UV-initiation, gamma-irradiation can penetrate the reaction solution deeper and without evidence of irreversible decomposition of the dithioester end group. Therefore, RAFT polymerizations of NIPAAm and AA were achieved with a very good level of control, even at high monomer conversions. This new process was then extended to many other water-soluble monomers for generating homopolymers and block copolymers. Among these, acrylamide, N,N-dimethylacrylamide, 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate and poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate gave the best results. This technique proved to be very efficient at generating very long and narrowly distributed polymers (up to a degree of polymerization of 10,000) and at designing block copolymers. High molecular weight PNIPAAm-b-PAA copolymers, synthesized by RAFT polymerization under gamma-radiation, were used to generate multi-responsive cross-linked micelles. These block copolymers were self-assembled in water at pH 7 by increasing the temperature over the lower critical solution temperature. The PNIPAAm became hydrophobic and formed the micellar core and the hydrophilic PAA block generated the corona which prevented full aggregation of the system. Then, by amidification at elevated temperatures of the carboxylic moieties via a trifunctional primary amine, the structure was found to remain even after cooling down the system. The shell-cross-linked micelles formed were utilized to generate inorganic-organic nanohybrids by the in situ reduction of gold or silver salts to generate nanoparticles inside the nanocarrier. Another strategy of cross-linking was also investigated by using amino-functional silsesquioxane nanoparticles. In water around neutral pH values and room temperature, these particles interacted with the carboxylic groups of a high molecular weight PNIPAAm-b-PAA by hydrogen bonding and ionic interactions to generate an insoluble complex. Due to the presence of the hydrophilic PNIPAAm block, defined spherical micelles were obtained. The inorganic-organic particles were successfully cross-linked by subsequent amidification to preserve the structure, even at a high pH. Different temperature properties of the hybrids were observed depending on the pH value, due to the residual charge in the micellar core. At a neutral pH, shrinking of the corona was observed, while at a high pH (pH 13) a fully reversible aggregation of the system occurred.
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"Smart" Hydrogels based on Trishydrophilic Triblock Terpolymers
(2010)
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Stefan Reinicke
- The work presented in this thesis focuses on the synthesis of double stimuli-responsive, trishydrophilic triblock terpolymers and their utilization for the construction of “smart” hydrogel systems, responding to a variety of external stimuli. The central focus was put on ABC triblock terpolymers composed of a pH-sensitive A block, a water soluble B block and a thermo-sensitive or multi-responsive C block. This concept was used for the construction of hydrogels responding independently to pH, temperature, and UV light. It was further applied to the formation of polymer/nanoparticle hybrid micelles suitable for the formation of magneto-responsive hydrogels (ferrogels). At first, a new route for the synthesis of block copolymers, containing ethylene oxide and glycidol derivatives, was developed. The crucial aspect of this procedure, based on sequential anionic polymerization, was the utilization of the phosphazene base t-BuP4, enabling the anionic polymerization of epoxide monomers in the presence of lithium counterions. It was shown, that ethoxyethyl glycidyl ether polymerizes easily under the established polymerization conditions without unwanted termination. Hence, we were able to synthesize well-defined block copolymers containing vinyl and epoxide monomers in a one-pot reaction, without performing additional intermediate steps. This new synthetic route was then utilized to synthesize a series of poly(2-vinylpyridine)-block-poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(glycidyl methyl ether-co-ethyl glycidyl ether) (P2VP-b-PEO-b-P(GME-co-EGE)) triblock terpolymers suitable for pH and temperature dependent hydrogel formation. The reversible gelation for this particular system relies on two distinct mechanisms. Under conditions, where only one outer block is insoluble, core-shell-corona (CSC) micelles are formed, resulting in gelation via close cubic packing of the micelles. On the other hand, the micelles are also able to crosslink through their corona when both outer blocks are insoluble. As a direct consequence, a temperature triggered gel-sol-gel transition occurred at pH = 7, accompanied by a unique gel strengthening. Solubility and gelation studies were performed by DLS, rheology and SANS. The influence of polymer concentrations and block lengths on the gelation behavior and gel properties was studied. In order to derive information about the exact structure of the cubic lattice formed in the low temperature gel phase (simple cubic or body centered cubic), a 19 wt% aqueous solution of a particular P2VP-b-PEO-b-P(GME-co-EGE) triblock terpolymer at pH = 7 was further investigated using SANS under steady shear. By application of shear stress, the irregularly arranged polydomains of the sample oriented macroscopically along a preferred direction, which led to highly defined, strongly anisotropic 2D scattering patterns. The interpretation of these patterns confirmed the presence of a body centered cubic packing. The gel-sol transition upon temperature increase can be explained by a shrinkage of the shell of the CSC micelles. To increase the versatility of the established hydrogel concept, we further synthesized ABC triblock terpolymers with different responsive polymers as C blocks. This required an alternative synthetic route, combining anionic polymerization and ATRP via “click” chemistry. After optimization of each synthetic step, exemplary poly(2-vinylpyridine)-block-poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylate) (P2VP-b-PEO-b-POEGMA) and poly(2-vinylpyridine)-block-poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(dimethyl- aminoethyl methacrylate) (P2VP-b-PEO-b-PDMAEMA) triblock terpolymers were synthesized, respectively, and characterized regarding their solubility and gelation behavior. At pH > 5, P2VP-b-PEO-b-PDMAEMA forms CSC micelles with a P2VP core, and a pH- as well as thermo-sensitive PDMAEMA corona. This particular structure represents a hydrogel, whose temperature dependent response can be easily changed from a gel-sol to a sol-gel transition by increasing the pH from 8 to 9. At pH = 7.5 on the other hand, gel formation is induced by the addition of hexacyanocobaltate(III) ions due to electrostatic interactions between the multivalent cobaltate ions and the charged DMAEMA units, causing a physical crosslinking of the CSC micelles. The gel can subsequently be disintegrated by an exposure to UV-light, based on a UV-catalyzed aquation of the trivalent hexacyanocobaltate(III) ions ions to divalent aquapentacyanocobaltate(III)-ions. In the last part, a new approach was developed to create a novel type of magnetic field-responsive hydrogels (ferrogels), in which the nanoparticles are tightly bound to the polymer matrix. The P2VP block of the previously synthesized P2VP-b-PEO-b-P(GME-co-EGE) triblock terpolymers was quaternized to a low extent and complexed with negatively charged, citrate stabilized maghemite (γ-Fe(III)-oxide) nanoparticles. Using different analytical methods it was shown that well-defined CSC hybrid micelles were obtained with cores formed by a complex of P2VP and 3-4 nanoparticles per core. Concentrated solutions of these micelles are able to form gels depending on temperature, as revealed by rheology measurements. Due to the presence of the maghemite particles, it is possible to induce gelation via remote heating using AC magnetic fields, which was demonstrated by high frequency magnetocalorimetry.
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Donor-Acceptor Block Copolymers in Organic Electronics - Spectroscopy, Charge Transport, Morphology and Device Application
(2010)
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Sven Hüttner
- Organic electronic devices have attracted increasing attention over the last decade. The use of organic materials allows the creation of large area, flexible and low-cost lightemitting devices, transistors and photovoltaics. The development of new organic materials contributes to a successful commercialisation. The present work deals with the characterisation of novel donor-acceptor block copolymers and their constituent polymer blocks that are well-suited for organic photovoltaics. Block copolymers phase-separate and self-assemble into nanostructured morphologies due to the covalent linkage of the two blocks. The interplay between intermolecular interactions, mesoscopic crystalline structures and the block copolymer microphase separation determine the material properties and therefore the device characteristics. Thus, these block copolymers offer a unique platform to study the electronic and photophysical properties of confined donor-acceptor systems. This work is concerned with the fundamental characterisation of these properties as well as the application in organic field effect transistors and organic solar cells. The acceptor polymer block poly(perylene bisimide acrylate) (PPerAcr) consists of perylene bisimide (PBI) units that are linked to a polyacrylate backbone. We have investigated the homopolymer PPerAcr, a model block copolymer in conjunction with polystyrene (PS), as well as fully functionalised block copolymers with a donor block either made of poly(vinyl triphenylamine) (PvTPA) or poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). These polymers offer a set of electronically active materials with several hierarchical structures: The PBI moieties feature intermolecular pi-pi interactions that lead to crystalline side chains of PPerAcr that form a lattice of one-dimensional stacks of PBI. Further nanoscopic structures are induced by the combination of PPerAcr with another amorphous block or another semi-crystalline block such as P3HT due to phase separation. Since PPerAcr is used as an electron transporting material in all subsequent block copolymers, its structural, optical and electronic properties are investigated in detail. The intermolecular interactions of the PBI moieties favour not only charge transport, but also affect the optical properties, due to the electronic coupling of the transition dipole moments. Thus, optical spectroscopy such as absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy give access to information about the intermolecular packing, which is correlated with temperature dependent X-ray diffraction studies. The strong intermolecular packing of the PBI units can be overcome by solvent-vapour exposure. This is especially helpful to induce polymer chain mobility, enabling the completion of block copolymer phase separation for example. This method was studied in detail by means of in-situ spectroscopy and ellipsometry during controlled solvent-vapour exposure. Spincoated films of PvTPA-b-PPerAcr exhibit an incomplete phase separation and can be transformed into an ordered lamellar morphology by solvent-vapour annealing. In addition to PvTPA, we have characterised further poly(triarylamines) with different electron-rich substituents at the TPA units in OFETs. All these polymers are amorphous side-chain polymers. We found the charge carrier mobility to be independent of the molecular weight, though allowing an adjustment of their thermal properties for device fabrication. This is in contrast to P3HT, which is a semi-crystalline, conjugated main chain polymer. X-ray diffraction, steady state and time-resolved spectroscopy, as well as the transistor device characterisation were employed to establish a charge transport - morphology relation for the donor-acceptor block copolymers P3HT-b-PPerAcr containing two crystalline blocks. Controlling the crystallisation preferences of the two blocks leads to a new processing route for OFETs with tunable p-type, ambipolar, or n-type transport through a one-time thermal annealing step. The application of P3HT-b-PPerAcr in organic photovoltaic devices showed also very promising results with high external quantum efficiencies. Subsequently, the photophysics of P3HT-b-PPerAcr by means of absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy as well as time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy were investigated. All block copolymers exhibited an ultra-fast charge-pair formation and a strongly reduced photoluminescence, suggesting domain sizes of only some nanometres. Although efficient charge separation could be accomplished, a good charge percolation was lacking due to small domain sizes. Furthermore the herein presented results emphasis the fundamental importance of morphology and interfacial properties such as crystallinity. These findings motivate the further use of block copolymers as compatibilising agents for polymer blends to improve their interface and morphology.
