CAREER: Tailoring the Nanostructure and Morphology of Hydrogen-Bonded Supramolecular Liquid Crystals Using Immiscible Polymer Side Chains

职业：使用不混溶聚合物侧链定制氢键超分子液晶的纳米结构和形态

• 批准号: 0348724
• 负责人: Lei Zhu
• 金额: $ 43万
• 依托单位: University of Connecticut
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-01-01 至 2009-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0348724&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Tailoring; Nanostructure; Morphology; Hydrogen; CAREER; Tailoring; Nanostructure; Morphology; Hydrogen

This CAREER development plan seeks to achieve fundamental understanding of novel nanostructure and morphology in supramolecular columnar liquid crystals (LCs) with immiscible polymer side chains, and to manipulate spontaneous curvature in a microphase-separated single LC column on nanometer length scales. Rational material design and precise engineering of the spontaneous self-assembly of the supramolecular columnar LCs have become increasingly important in the development of a new generation of nanomaterials for nanotechnology. In order to achieve these goals, specific objectives are proposed. (1) Design and synthesize novel non-mesogenic molecules with an amide core and multiple immiscible polymer side chains at each end. (2) Understand the columnar LC phases determined by the interrelationship and interdependence between hierarchical intermolecular interactions, such as liquid crystal formation and microphase separation, on different length scales. (3) Achieve novel helical coil morphology in single LC nanofiber using the principle of spontaneous curvature. The spontaneous curvature will be systematically investigated based upon the effects from molecular weight and selectivesolvent.The scientific merits of this proposal are several. First, attaching immiscible polymer side chainsonto supramolecular columnar liquid crystals generates a new type of LC material. The new LCpolymers will bridge the gap in our understanding of structure-property relationship between small molecules and polymers. Second, the unique physical property of intra-columnar microphase separation will induce novel helical coil morphology in self-assembled columnar LCs, which may mimic the coiling instability in bio-related lipid tubules. Third, the proposed helical morphology may have potential technological applications such as environment-responsive nanoactuators.To achieve broader impact, an integrated research and education plan is proposed to combineoutreach to local high school teachers and students with the development of novel polymernanotechnology component in a graduate course on Polymer Structure and Morphology. First, such an effort is going to improve the local community's awareness of technologically important polymer nanomaterials, while creating substantive ties to high school teachers and underrepresented young students who otherwise would have no exposure to polymer concepts and applications. The planned outreach effort will feature two major components: education and research. In the education part, the PI will collaborate with local high school science teachers to develop a new curriculum for underrepresented students to learn basic science and engineering concepts related to everyday polymeric materials. Regular visits to the local high school are planned with well-designed polymer experiments and projects to stimulate student interest in science and engineering. In the research program, the PI will initiate a summer internship for high school teachers and students to team with polymer research faculty to develop hands-on laboratory experiments in polymer morphology research for the use in high school classrooms.The polymer nanostructure and morphology course will help bridge the existing gap between different levels of research and education in polymer nanotechnology. The research results will be widely disseminated through publications in scientific journals, presentations at national meetings, and collaborations with industries.***

该职业发展计划旨在在超分子柱液晶（LCS）中对新的纳米结构和形态进行基本理解，并具有不混溶的聚合物侧链，并在纳米长度尺度上的显微镜分离单LC柱中操纵自发曲率。超分子LCS自发自组装的合理材料设计和精确的工程在开发新一代纳米材料的纳米技术方面变得越来越重要。为了实现这些目标，提出了具体的目标。 （1）两端的设计和合成具有酰胺芯和多个不混溶的聚合物侧链的新型非质量分子。 （2）了解由不同长度尺度上分层间相互作用（例如液晶形成和微相分离）之间的相互关系和相互依赖性确定的柱状LC相。 （3）使用自发曲率原理在单LC纳米纤维中实现新型的螺旋线圈形态。自发曲率将根据分子量和SelectiveSolvent的影响进行系统研究。该提案的科学优点是几个。首先，连接不混溶的聚合物侧链孔孔托超分子柱液晶会产生一种新型的LC材料。新的LCPOLEMER将弥合我们对小分子和聚合物之间结构性关系关系的差距。其次，柱内显微相分离的独特物理特性将在自组装的柱状LCS中诱导新颖的螺旋线圈形态，这可能模仿生物相关的脂质小管中的盘绕不稳定。第三，提出的螺旋形态可能具有潜在的技术应用，例如环境响应性纳米活性剂，为了实现更大的影响，提出了一项综合的研究和教育计划，旨在将当地高中教师和学生与新型聚合物技术组成部分的发展相结合。首先，这样的努力将提高当地社区对技术重要的聚合物纳米材料的认识，同时与高中教师和代表性不足的年轻学生建立实质性联系，而这些学生否则就无法接触聚合物概念和应用。计划的外展工作将以两个主要组成部分：教育和研究。在教育部分，PI将与当地高中科学教师合作，为代表性不足的学生开发新的课程，以学习与日常聚合物材料相关的基础科学和工程概念。计划通过精心设计的聚合物实验和项目来定期访问当地高中，以激发学生对科学和工程学的兴趣。 In the research program, the PI will initiate a summer internship for high school teachers and students to team with polymer research faculty to develop hands-on laboratory experiments in polymer morphology research for the use in high school classrooms.The polymer nanostructure and morphology course will help bridge the existing gap between different levels of research and education in polymer nanotechnology.研究结果将通过科学期刊上的出版物，国家会议的演讲以及与行业的合作进行广泛传播。***