Donnerstag 16:00 Uhr - 17:15 Uhr FIT seminar room

Special Colloquium | Prof. Marcus Gallei (Universität des Saarlandes) | Stimuli-Responsive Polymer Architectures as Optical Sensing Materials and Smart Membranes

Abstract
In the last decade stimuli-responsive polymers attracted enormous attention for a range of important applications. Such polymers are capable of changing their conformation, solubility, or they can even break or form covalent bonds upon a change of temperature or pH value, upon light irradiation, by using electrochemical stimuli or by the presence of an electrical or magnetic field, or by combinations thereof. The presentation will focus on polymer materials, which contain at least one selectively addressable segment, either chemically or physically. Functional porous nanostructures obtained by block copolymer self-assembly as well as recentadvances in inverse opal films prepared by using the so-called melt-shear organization technique will be highlighted and discussed in more detail. In the case of soft colloidal crystal and inverted structures, which are also referred to as polymeric opals, external triggers additionally lead to a remarkably fast and reversible change of their intriguing optical properties, which could be easily processed to films or 3D printed complex objects. A major benefit of self-assembled polymeric materials is their inexpensive and convenient preparation giving a good optical performance. The talk will give some recent advances for the rational design of functional porous materials with hierarchical architectures also in combination with sustainable cellulose-based materials. Herein presented preparation strategies will pave the way to a manifold of applications in the field of sensing and smart membrane technologies.

Full abstract with references/graphics