Self-Assembly of Poly(Ethylene Oxide)-Block-Poly(Ethyl Acrylate)-Block-Polystyrene with Phenolic Resins
Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: Mesoporous carbon materials (2-50 nm) have received considerable attention for their remarkable physicochemical properties, which bring about widespread applications, such as absorption, separation, catalysis, drug delivery, and energy conversion and storage.One general route to fabricate mesoporous carbons is through soft-templating, namely cooperative self-assembly of an amphiphilic block copolymer (BCP) with a carbon precursor (e.g.phenolic resin).The precursor is selective to hydrophilic domains to tune the microphase separation of BCP.Typical soft templating involves the use of AB or ABA block copolymers as the template, which in most cases, only spheres, cylinders, and lamellae morphologies were obtained.Switching to an ABC type triblock copolymer provides greater flexibility in the design of the morphology, potentially opening up larger processing windows for bicontinuous morphologies.In this study, we designed and synthesized a new non-frustrated triblock copolymer poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(ethyl acrylate)-block-polystyrene (PEO-b-PEA-b-PS) using reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization.We discuss efforts to prepare bicontinuous porous carbon thin films through cooperative self-assembly of this novel triblock copolymer with phenolic resins (resol) with different processing methods.Prof. Kevin A. Cavicchi, for their continuous support and encouragement for my master study and research work.You offered me great mentorship, and the things that I have learnt from you are lifelong beneficial.You not only provided training in experimental and research skills, but also built my scientific qualities, inquisitiveness, perseverance, skepticism, good communication and writing skills.I own you a huge debt of gratitude for leading me to the interesting research world and shaping me into a qualified researcher.
Author: Guodong Deng
Institution: University of Akron
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2600375179