Event
MSE Seminar Series: Pappannan Thiyagarajan
Friday, December 11, 2009
1:00 p.m.
Room 2108, Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Bldg
Joanne Kagle
(301) 405-5240
jkagle@umd.edu
Self Assembly, Phase Behavior and Dynamics in Block Copolymer Complexes and Nanocomposites
Presented by Dr. Pappannan Thiyagarajan
Program Manager, Neutron Scattering
Division of Materials Science and Engineering
DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences
Polymers continue to have a tremendous impact in the modern world since they are the materials-of-choice in a wide range of technologies. Their ubiquitous applications are the consequence of the knowledge gained through basic research on the design and control of their chemistry, the physics underlying their thermodynamic versus macroscopic properties, and the theories to describe and predict their properties. Recently, polymer-based hybrid nanocomposites have attracted world-wide attention because of their unique ability to serve as versatile platforms for creating a wide range of functional materials. Harnessing their full potential requires success in overcoming several scientific challenges: design of versatile synthetic routes to achieve well dispersed inorganic particles in polymer matrices and to sequester different types of nanoparticles in different block copolymer domains for multifunctionality; development of methods to render 1D, 2D and 3D ordering of nanoparticles in ordered polymer phases that can usher in new functionalities; development of thermodynamic models, theory and simulations to gain knowledge on the mechanisms involved in the dispersion, phase transitions and ordering; correlation of the structure and dynamics of the composites with their function. In this talk I will present an overview of the self assembly, phase behavior and dynamics of a variety of block copolymer complexes and nanocomposites as measured from neutron and synchrotron x-ray scattering. My talk will also include the Core Research Activity of the DMSE Neutron Scattering Program to inform the faculty about the potential funding opportunities at the DOEBES.
