UNS: Electric-Field Alignment of Immiscible Polymer Blends with Dispersed Nanoparticles for Mesoporous Reactive Membranes

University Of Arkansas, Fayetteville AR

Investigators

Abstract

CBET - 1511896 PI: Millett, Paul This project uses experiments and numerical simulation to examine the dynamics of thin films of phase-separating polymers that contain nanoparticles. When phase separation occurs, the nanoparticles segregate to the interfaces between polymer phases, which locks the configuration of the phases into place. To control the spatial morphology of the thin film, an electric field is applied to align the phases and the particles perpendicular to the film. Then, one of the polymer phases can be dissolved away, leaving a membrane-like structure containing channels that are lined with the particles. The particles can be made on the scale of nanometers and they can be made catalytic, which gives rise to a variety of technological capabilities, including using the resulting membranes for chemical separations, catalysis, and in energy-related devices such as photovoltaics and light-emitting diodes. The goal of the project is to understand the microstructural morphology of melted, phase-separating polymer blends containing particles in thin films and how its evolution can be controlled by an electric field. The project will use a polymer film apparatus that can simultaneously impose elevated temperatures and out-of-pane electric fields. Experiments will be integrated with Brownian Dynamics/Cahn-Hilliard simulations to model the evolution of the thin film morphology. The experiments and simulations will combine to identify parameter ranges that optimize the desired thin film morphology. Parameters that will be investigated include the strength of the electric field required to align phases and particles, volume fractions of the polymer phases and the resulting channel dimensions, particle size and volume fraction, and film thickness.