PhD Thesis Defense- Maud Formanek
Computational Investigations of Single-Chain Nanoparticles: Novel Synthesis Routes, Complex Flow Behavior and Reversible Gel Formation
Candidate: Maud Formanek
Supervisors: Ángel Moreno
Research group: Polymers and Soft Matter
When: January 17, 2020 (10:30h)
Where: CFM AUDITORIUM
Summary
We investigate the structural and dynamical properties of single-chain nanoparticles in poorly understood or even unexplored complex environments: crowding conditions and shear flows. Computer simulations are employed as a tool to calculate observables that can either not be accessed through experiments or are indirectly obtained from them on the basis of approximations or model as- sumptions. Furthermore, the possibility of investigating single SCNPs with a specific topology instead of the averages of a polydisperse mixture produced by experiments allows us to pose the fundamental question of the role of polymer topology in the resulting structure and dynamics.
Three main topics are covered: (i) a novel synthesis protocol based on a change from linear to ring polymer precursors and performing the cross-linking procedure under crowding conditions; (ii) the complex response of SCNPs to homogeneous shear flows, at the single-molecule level and in the semi-dilute regime; (iii) gel formation in systems of reversible SCNPs stemming from the interplay of intramolecular and intermolecular bonds.
Deformation of a semi-dilute monodisperse SCNP solution under shear.