AMADEUS Seminar - Prof. Uli Wiesner, - Tuesday 8 october 2019, 2:00 pm - ICMCB (Amphi)

In this contribution the formation of polymer self-assembly derived functional nanomaterials is discussed from a combination of block copolymer self-assembly directed organic as well as inorganic nanoparticles. The emphasis will be on the development of wet chemical methodologies towards controlled nanostructures resulting in specific function. Experiments will be compared to theoretical predictions to provide physical insights into formation principles and specific properties. The aim of the described work is to understand the underlying fundamental chemical, thermodynamic and kinetic formation principles as well as nanostructure-property correlations enabling generalization of results over a wide class of materials systems.  Work will cover structure formation at or close to the thermodynamic equilibrium as well as approaches where systems are systematically driven away from equilibrium. Examples will include block copolymer self-assembly based mesoporous gyroidal superconductors, block copolymer directed gyroidal mesoporous carbons for the realization of three-dimensional (3D) battery architectures, macroscopic block copolymer directed gyroidal single crystals, hierarchical porous polymer scaffolds from a combination of spinodal decomposition and microphase separation in block copolymer-organic additive mixtures, shape control of hierarchical porous all-organic thin films via transient laser heating and their conversion into 3D periodic mesoporous semiconductors, and block copolymer-based asymmetric membrane structures for ultrafiltration and energy storage and conversion applications.

REFERENCES:

1. E. Susca, P. Beaucage, R. P. Thedford, A. Singer, S. M. Gruner, L. Estroff, U. Wiesner, Preparation of Macroscopic Block Copolymer-Based Gyroidal Mesoscale Single Crystals by Solvent Evaporation, Adv. Mater. 31 (2019), 1902565.

2. J. G. Werner, G. G. Rodríguez-Calero, H. D. Abruña, U. Wiesner, Block Copolymer Derived 3-D Interpenetrating Multifunctional Gyroidal Nanohybrid for Electrical Energy Storage,Energy Environ. Sci. 11, 1261-1270 (2018).

3. S. W. Robbins, P. A. Beaucage, H. Sai, K. W. Tan, J. P. Sethna, F. J. DiSalvo, S. M. Gruner, R. B. van Dover, U. Wiesner, Block copolymer self-assembly directed synthesis of mesoporous gyroidal superconductors, Science Advances 2, e1501119 (2016).

4. K. W. Tan, B. Jung, J. G. Werner, E. R. Rhoades, M. O. Thompson, U. Wiesner, Transient Laser Heating Induced Hierarchical Porous Structures from Block Copolymer Directed Self-Assembly, Science 349, 54-58 (2015).

5. Z. Li, K. Hur, H. Sai, T. Higuchi, A. Takahara, H. Jinnai, S. M. Gruner, U. Wiesner, Linking experiment and theory for three-dimensional networked binary metal nanoparticle -triblock terpolymer superstructures, Nat. Commun. 5, 3247 (2014).

6. H. Sai, K. W. Tan, K. Hur, E. Asenath-Smith, R. Hovden, Y. Jiang, M. Riccio, D. A. Muller, V. Elser, L. A. Estroff, S. M. Gruner, U. Wiesner, Hierarchical porous polymer scaffolds from block copolymers, Science 341, 530-534 (2013).

Brief Biography

Ulrich (Uli) Wiesner studied Chemistry at the University of Mainz, Germany, and UC Irvine, CA. He gained his Ph.D. in 1991 in Physical Chemistry with work at the Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P), Mainz, on holographic information storage in polymer liquid crystals. After a two-year postdoc at E.S.P.C.I. in Paris, France, on local dynamics-mechanical property correlations in polyesters, he returned to the MPI-P in 1993 were he finished his Habilitation in 1998 with work on block copolymers under oscillatory shear and block copolymer ionomers. He joined the Cornell University, NY, MS&E faculty in 1999 as a tenured Associate Professor, became a Full Professor in 2005, and since 2008 is the Spencer T. Olin Professor of Engineering. Since his arrival at Cornell he has worked at the interface between polymer science and inorganic/solid-state chemistry with the goal to generate multifunctional nanomaterials for applications including energy conversion and storage, clean water, and nanomedicine. Since 2015 he is the co-director of the MSKCC-Cornell Center for Translation of Cancer Nanomedicine (MC²TCN), one of six Centers for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (CCNE) funded by the NCI (https://www.cancer.gov/sites/ocnr/research/alliance/ccne).

Selected Honors and Awards

2016: Arthur K. Doolittle Award of the American Chemical Society PMSE Division

2015: Elected PMSE Fellow of the American Chemical Society

2008: National Science Foundation Creativity Award.

2005: Mr. & Mrs. Richard F. Tucker’50 Excellence in Teaching Award, Cornell University.

2001: IBM Faculty Partnership Award.

1999: Carl Duisberg Memorial Award of the German Chemical Society (GDCh).

Technology Commercialization

2016-present:  Cofounder Eludica Oncology, Inc.; effort to commercialize C dots for applications in

                         oncology (http://www.elucidaoncology.com)

2013-present:  Cofounder TeraPore Technologies, Inc.; effort to commercialize block copolymer UF membranes (https://teraporetech.com)