November 9, 2016 Millicent A. Firestone Thrust Leader for Soft, Biological & Composite NanomaterialsCenter for Integrated Nanotechnologies Los Alamos National Laboratory "Nanoparticle-Polymer Composites for the Fabrication of Novel Electronic and Plasmonic Materials"
4:10 PM, 134 Featheringill Hall Refreshments served at 3:45 Abstract
The pursuit for functional nanocomposites that impact a wide range of technologies, ranging from information processing to energy storage / transducing devices has resulted in significant interest in the preparation of hybrid materials combining nanoparticles (NPs) with polymers. The construction of dynamic NP-polymer composites that allow for active modulation of the particle–packing arrangement for functional tuning is an area of increasing activity. In this presentation two approaches for achieving polymer – NP composites with external control over the internal packing arrangement of the in-situ synthesized NPs will be presented. In the first approach, non-covalent, lamellar lyotropic mesophases composed of amphiphiles (lipids, non-ionic polymers, and co-surfactant) that support the reactive constituents, a mixture of hydroxyl- and acrylate end-derivatized triblock copolymers and a suitable metal ion, are used to generate chemical gels via cascade synthesis. In the second approach ionic liquid amphiphilic monomers are self-assembled in water and the ordered mesophases are captured through free-radical polymerization to yield durable nanostructures. Both families of materials yield hydro- and organo-gels that can be reversibly swollen without loss of the well-entrained nanoparticles and full recovery of composite structure. Temperature and solvent-state modulation of the internal NP packing arrangement promotes facile conversion from solely ion conducting to dual conducting (ion and electronic). Recent studies evaluating the potential of the composites for use as solid-state photonic materials will also presented.