Polymer Adsorption and Transport into Nanopores

1
Polymer Adsorption and Transport into Nanopores
(Grant No. DMR-0449736, Program director Dr.
Andrew J. Lovinger.)
Research
G surface excess wt. of adsorbed polymers per
unit area

1. Understanding the size interplay between polymers
   and pores

When Rg gt Rp,

• When Rg lt Rp, Gpore G (Rg) Gflat
• Rg gt Rp, Gpore G (Rp).
• When polymers are larger than pores, the true
  Gpore depends not on polymer size, but on pore
  size.

PS in cyclohexane

1. Applications of polymer nanopore adsorption for
   polymer separation

When polymers are larger than pores,
Polymer separation in polymer nanoparticle
composites
Li et al. Macromolecules 2006, 39, 3175-3183.

1. PS adsorption in cyclohexane
2. HF treatment sonification

Block copolymer fractionation based on chemical
composition differences
SEM of a PS shell layer remaining after HF etching
Park et al. Macromolecules 2006, 39, 315-318.
Chang Ryu, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
Troy, NY
2
Polymer Adsorption and Transport into Nanopores
(Grant No. DMR-0449736, Program director Dr.
Andrew J. Lovinger.)
Education
Outreach
(1)Two graduate students are making a steady
progress toward their Ph.D. degrees. (2)
Undergraduate research by 4 students is supported
beyond the original budgeted plan by attracting
RPI internal scholarship funding and obtaining
REU supplement-CAREER support. (3) Graduate-level
course titled Polymer Separation and HPLC (2
credit) was offered to 8 graduate and 2
undergraduate students at RPI in Spring, 2006.

• High School Outreach Program
• The PI will continue to collaborate with
  HS teachers as a Program Coordinator of Bringing
  Nanotechnology to the Classroom, HS Outreach
  Program in NSEC at RPI, since 2003 (Picture
  below-left July, 2005). The PI also gave a
  seminar on nanotechnology at Albany Academy for
  Girls in Albany, NY (May, 2006) in an effort to
  expand the HS outreach program

• Two Ph.D. Students
• Won Kim (4th year), Chansu Kim (4th year)
• Four undergraduate students
• Felicia Tsai (junior, RPI)
• Samantha G. Gladstone (freshman, RPI)
• Nan Chen (freshman, RPI)
• Jeol Batson (Junior, Morehouse, GA)

(2) The PI hosted UG students from Williams
College (UG Only institution) for one-day special
lecture/laboratory on polymer HPLC at RPI
(Picture above-right April, 2006) (3) The PI and
his students continued to develop the educational
web-based resource on polymer materials -Virtual
Polymer Laboratory (http//block.chem.rpi.edu/htm
l/E_Outreach)
The winner of Janz award at RPI for the summer
research support at RPI, based on her previous
work and proposed work before the summer of
2006. REU supplement-CAREER support
(DMR-636168) for the summer of 2006
Chang Ryu, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
Troy, NY