Topic: Nanostructured Polymers

Synthetic macromolecules are inherently capable of self-organizing into a variety of periodic and nonperiodic morphologies, possessing a characteristic length scale typically of the order of 10-100 nanometres. 

Such materials include, but are not limited to:  

• block, multi-block, and graft copolymers
• ionomers 
• crystallisable homopolymers
• nanoporous polymers
• hybrid organic/inorganic polymers  

Materials of this type already find significant technological applications, for example in a vast range of semi-crystalline thermoplastics, in nanofiltration membranes, in ionomer-membranes for fuel cells and electrodialysis, and in elastomeric multi-block-copolymer fibres. However, they also have tremendous potential for future application in other areas, for example as matrix polymers for controlled release of drugs and other biologically active molecules, as precursor-polymers for nanoporous carbons and ceramics, and as self-patterning materials for electronic circuits at the nanometre scale. Nanostructured polymers thus currently represent one of the most active areas of research in the whole of polymer science, represented not only by synthesis but also by theory, structural analysis and applications development.

Session: Nanostructured Polymers (i) - Thursday 5 July (am)

Keynote
Ian Hamley
University of Reading, UK

Integration of top-down and bottom-up methods: generating templates
for nanowire devices
T G Fitzgerald*, J M O'Callaghan, B Kosmala, M Shaw, P F Nealey, J D Holmes and M A Morris
University College Cork, Ireland

Hybrid block copolymer assemblies and nanoparticle co-assemblies
Ulrich Wiesner*
Cornell University, USA

Controlled pattern formation in polymer-inorganic hybrid materials
Ullrich Steiner*
University of Cambridge, UK

Freestanding nanowire arrays from soft-etch block copolymer templates
Edward J W Crossland*, Sabine Ludwigs, Marc A Hillmyer and Ullrich Steiner
University of Cambridge, UK

Inorganic-organic hybrid polymers from metal oxide clusters as nanosized building blocks
U Schubert*, F R Kogler, Y Gao, H Peterlik, T Koch and S Seidler
Vienna University of Technology, Austria

Session: Nanostructured Polymers (ii) - Thursday 5 July (pm)

Keynote
Thomas Russell
University of Massachusetts, USA

Graft-copolymers of a cross-linkable, cyclolinear, polycarbosilane with poly(methyl methacrylate): precursors to ultralow-k films and nanoporous ceramics
Leonard V Interrante*, Jae-Yong Hyun, Zhizhong Wu and Chang Y Ryu
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA

Self-assembling "pseudo-polymers"
P Woodward, I W Hamley, W Hayes* and A T Slark
University of Reading, UK

Thermoresponsive "particle pumps": controlled release of organic nanoparticles from macroporous polymers
Haifei Zhang* and Andrew I Cooper
University of Liverpool, UK

Functionalised polymers by surface modification
Jon-Paul Griffiths, M G Moloney* and Lynne Sansom
University of Oxford, UK

Inorganic-organic hybrid materials as "composite precursors" for the development of homogeneous nanostructured mixed oxides
Silvia Gross*, Simone Mascotto, Otgontuul Tsetsgee, Klaus Müller, Bernd Smarsly, Chiara Maccato, Lidia Armelao and Eugenio Tondello
University of Padova, Italy

Synthesis of new electroactive polymers for light emitting devices
Charlotte K Williams*, Hugo Bronstein, Angharad Edwards and Sven Horst
Imperial College London, UK

Charge transfer interaction can influence the self-assembly of fullerene/copolymer mixtures
Ari Laiho*, Robin H A Ras, Sami Valkama, Janne Ruokolainen, Ronald Österbacka and Olli Ikkala
Helsinki University of Technology, Finland