Date of Award
8-2024
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School
Polymer Science and Engineering
Committee Chair
Dr. Zhe Qiang
Committee Chair School
Polymer Science and Engineering
Committee Member 2
Dr. Xiaodan Gu
Committee Member 2 School
Polymer Science and Engineering
Committee Member 3
Dr. Sergei Nazarenko
Committee Member 3 School
Polymer Science and Engineering
Committee Member 4
Dr. James Rawlins
Committee Member 4 School
Polymer Science and Engineering
Committee Member 5
Dr. Jeffrey Wiggins
Committee Member 5 School
Polymer Science and Engineering
Abstract
Since the inception of synthetic polymers, polymer-derived materials have permeated into essentially all aspects of our daily lives. The most commonly thought of examples of polymer materials involve single-use, disposable products to increase shelf lives of perishable items, act as personal protective equipment, or provide some degree of convenience for the consumer. However, as we have furthered our understanding of polymer chemistry and polymer physics to develop increasingly sophisticated polymer systems, polymer materials have been employed in incredibly advanced applications. These include solid electrolytes for energy storage, matrices for aerospace grade carbon fiber-reinforced composites, membranes for liquid and gas separations, among countless others. Oftentimes, developing polymers for these advanced applications can require complex synthetic approaches or additional challenges in processing the materials into products for end-use applications. Throughout this dissertation, the goal is to elevate commodity polymers into materials for advanced applications through simple processing methods in order to develop high performance materials that can be easily adopted due to their low cost and ease of fabrication. Specifically, this work first focuses on developing a simple and cheap approach to fabricating high reflectance and stimuli-responsive, 1- dimensional polymer photonic crystals with spatial control over structural color for applications in anticounterfeiting and sensing technologies. This is accomplished through developing a two-component polymer system from commercially available fluoropolymers and phenolic resins with high refractive index contrasts and leveraging spatially controlled surface functionalizations to selectively deposit polymer films in desired patterns. The second portion of this work is centered around establishing synthetic methods for
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converting commodity polyolefins into carbon materials that can be leveraged for applications in environmental remediation, energy storage, and heterogeneous catalysis. Specifically, a sulfonation-induced crosslinking method for preventing thermal degradation and enabling the conversion to carbon at elevated temperatures for polypropylene and various olefinic thermoplastic elastomers is demonstrated to produce carbon fibers and mesoporous carbons through scalable methods. Altogether, this work provides multiple avenues for developing functional materials derived from scalable processing methods and commodity precursors for advanced applications.
Copyright
Mark Robertson, 2024
Recommended Citation
Robertson, Mark, "Elevating Commodity Polymers to Advanced Applications in Polymer Photonics and Polymer-Derived Porous Materials" (2024). Dissertations. 2275.
https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/2275