Ought to their bioinert properties and facile synthesis, poly[(oligoethylene glycol)methacrylate]s (POEGMAs) have been raised as attractive alternatives to poly(ethylene glycols) (PEGs) in an array of (bio)material applications, especially when they are ap ...
Mechanochemistry harnesses mechanical force to facilitate chemical reactions. Traditionally, the field of polymer mechanochemistry has used methods to activate chemical bonds, which use forces that are larger than those that are required to break a covalen ...
Polymer brushes, which are polymers anchored to a solid substrate by one chainend, have the ability to modify the properties of an underlying substrate, offering
intriguing features such as enhanced lubrication, reduced friction, colloidal stability, and a ...
Seeded emulsion polymerization is one of the best-known methods for preparing polymer particles with a controlled size, composition, and shape. It first requires the preparation of seed particles, which are then swollen with additional monomer (the same as ...
Polymer brushes are densely grafted, chain end-tethered assemblies of polymers that can be produced via surface-initiated polymerization. Typically, this is accomplished using initiators or chain transfer agents that are covalently attached to the substrat ...
Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEA) are elastic capacitors composed of a pair of compliant electrodes and a soft dielectric elastomer film sandwiched in between. This kind of stretchable capacitors can be actuated when charged, can generate electricity fr ...
Polymer brushes have been theoretically described, their behavior under diverse conditions has been modeled, and their preparation via surface-initiated polymerizations (SIPs) has been progressively refined. However, despite three decades of research endea ...
Thin polymer coatings present a method to modify the surface properties of underlying substrates. Polymer-coated surfaces have been used as anticorrosive materials, surfaces with special wetting properties, antifriction materials, and as materials for biom ...
Polarimetric angle-resolved second-harmonic scattering (AR-SHS) is an all-optical tool enabling the study of unlabeled interfaces of nano-sized particles in an aqueous solution. As the second harmonic signal is modulated by interference between nonlinear c ...
This study assesses the influence during interfacial polymerization on polyamide thin film composite (TFC) morphology and performance of varying monomer concentrations and organic phases with widely varying physico-chemical characteristics (interfacial ten ...
As an important connection of terrestrial and marine ecosystems, rivers input multitudinous (micro)plastics into the oceans. However, comparisons of field and estimated riverine inputs of (micro)plastics and contributions of multiple parameters are limited ...
The present invention concerns a method for producing polymers suitable as carrier-free delivery system of bioactive molecules, in particular bioactive peptides. The method comprises the polycondensation of one or more different monomers, including monomer ...
Polymer brushes are a specific class of polymer thin films in which each chain is tethered to the underlying substrate via one chain end. In sufficiently densely grafted assemblies, the individual polymer chains are forced into an extended chain conformati ...
Advances in controlled radical polymerization over the past two decades have transformed the ability to produce molecularly well-defined, chain-end tethered polymer brush films. The assets of controlled radical polymerization reactions have impacted the sy ...
The introduction of interchain cross-links in surface-grafted polymer brushes increases the robustness and mechanical properties of these thin polymer films. In most cases, cross-linked polymer brushes contain permanent interchain cross-links. The use of r ...
This Thesis is built around 4 topics, which share in common that they all take advantage of the assets of controlled radical polymerization to either (i) prepare well-defined model systems to address fundamental research questions with regard to the sensit ...
An in-depth understanding of the growth mechanism of nanocrystals (NCs) is of great significance for shape control of colloidal semiconductor nanostructures. In this study, we elucidate the formation mechanism of anisotropic CdSe NCs by systematically inve ...
Hydrophilic polymer brushes grown via surface‐initiated polymerization from silicon oxide surfaces can detach or degraft in aqueous media. Degrafting of these chain end‐tethered polymers is believed to involve hydrolysis of bonds at the polymer–substrate i ...
Polymer brushes are a class of thin coatings, where each of chains is tethered to the underlying substrate via one chain end. Densely grafted polymer brushes feature a stretched chain conformation, which in a unique way enhances their lubrication and non-b ...
Thin polymer films that are able to bind proteins are of great relevance for a wide variety of biosensor and biochip applications. Some of these applications require films that have high protein binding capacities while others call for surfaces that allow ...
