Design and Synthesis of Adaptive Polymeric Materials and Composites

Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering Seminar

Stuart Rowan
Barry L. MacLean Professor for Molecular Engineering Innovation and Enterprise
University of Chicago

Design and Synthesis of Adaptive Polymeric Materials and Composites

Nature uses adaptive/responsive materials in a wide range of situations. Many of these materials use reversible bonds and interactions to induce the response. Such dynamic bonds can be defined as any class of bond that selectively undergoes reversible breaking and reformation, usually under equilibrium conditions. The incorporation of dynamic bonds (which can be either covalent or non-covalent) allows access to structurally dynamic polymers and adaptive composites. Such materials can exhibit macroscopic responses upon exposure to an environmental stimulus, on account of a rearrangement of the polymeric architecture. In such systems, the nature of the dynamic bond not only dictates which stimulus the material will be responsive to but also plays a role in the response itself. Thus, such a design concept represents a molecular level approach to the development of new stimuli-responsive/adaptive materials. We have been interested in the potential of such systems to access new material platforms and have developed a range of new mechanically stable, structurally dynamic polymer and nanocomposite films that change their properties in response to a given stimulus, such as temperature, light or specific chemicals. Such adaptive materials have been targeted toward applications that include healable plastics, responsive liquid crystalline polymers, adhesives, chemical sensors, mechanically dynamic films, and shape memory materials. Our latest results in these areas will be discussed.

Seminar at 10:30AM 
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Mann Student Center 
Dunham Lab 
Refreshments at 10:00AM