ATRP Enhances Structural Correlations In Polymerization-Induced Phase Separation** |
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Authors: | Alba Sicher Dr. Richard Whitfield Dr. Jan Ilavsky Prof. Dr. Vinodkumar Saranathan Prof. Dr. Athina Anastasaki Prof. Dr. Eric R. Dufresne |
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Affiliation: | 1. Laboratory for Soft and Living Materials, Department of Materials, ETH Zürich, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 5/10, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland;2. Laboratory of Polymeric Materials, Department of Materials, ETH Zürich, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 5/10, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland;3. X-ray Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois, 60439 United States;4. Division of Sciences, School of Interwoven Arts and Sciences, Krea University, 5655, Central Expressway, Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, 517646 India |
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Abstract: | Synthetic methods to control the structure of materials at sub-micron scales are typically based on the self-assembly of structural building blocks with precise size and morphology. On the other hand, many living systems can generate structure across a broad range of length scales in one step directly from macromolecules, using phase separation. Here, we introduce and control structure at the nano- and microscales through polymerization in the solid state, which has the unusual capability of both triggering and arresting phase separation. In particular, we show that atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) enables control of nucleation, growth, and stabilization of phase-separated poly-methylmethacrylate (PMMA) domains in a solid polystyrene (PS) matrix. ATRP yields durable nanostructures with low size dispersity and high degrees of structural correlations. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the length scale of these materials is controlled by the synthesis parameters. |
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Keywords: | ATRP Biomimetic Synthesis Nanostructures Phase Separation Polymerization |
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