MSED Seminar: Jan 27, 2021

Date: January 27, 2021 1:30 pm (ET)

Speaker(s)

  • Rachel K. O'Reilly
    University of Birmingham
  • Liam MacFarlane
    University of Victoria
Rachel oReily and Liam MacFarlane

 

Rachel K. O’Reilly
University of Birmingham

Designing polymeric nanostructures

There is great current interest in the synthesis of well-defined and functional polymers using controlled radical polymerization (CRP) techniques. The advances in the development of these techniques has enabled access to a wide range of functional and responsive materials for a diverse range of applications. Of the many CRP techniques that have been developed, reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) shows significant promise because of its ability to generate a large range of different architectures, and its tolerance to solvent and functionality within the chain transfer agent and the monomer. In the O’Reilly group we use RAFT techniques to synthesize functional and responsive amphiphilic diblock copolymers from a range of monomers which have unique properties such as responsive capabilities, catalytic activity or selective recognition. We are interested in the solution self assembly and the characterization of the resultant aggregates along with their exploration in a range of applications.

 

Liam MacFarlane
University of Victoria

Tailored fiber-like micelles for optoelectronics

Control over nanoscale morphology is evidentially important for material applications such as photovoltaics and field‑effect transistors. π‑Conjugated polymers, such as poly(3‑hexylthiophene), are well-studied materials due to optoelectronic properties that make them suitable for use in organic electronic devices. This talk will discuss recent developments in the living crystallization-driven self-assembly of π-conjugated nanostructures including the formation of materials with exceptional exciton diffusion lengths, coaxial heterojunctions and hybrid nanostructures.