1
|
Wang Y, Li YX, Li Q, Jia R, Tang Q, Huang H, Zhang Y, Feng X. Highly Ordered Gyroid Nanostructured Polymers: Facile Fabrication by Polymerizable Pluronic Surfactants. ACS Macro Lett 2024; 13:550-557. [PMID: 38634712 DOI: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.4c00161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/19/2024]
Abstract
Highly ordered, network-nanostructured polymers offer compelling geometric features and application potential. However, their practical utilization is hampered by the restricted accessibility. Here, we address this challenge using commercial Pluronic surfactants with a straightforward modification of tethering polymerizable groups. By leveraging lyotropic self-assembly, we achieve facile production of double-gyroid mesophases, which are subsequently solidified via photoinduced cross-linking. The exceptionally ordered periodicities of Ia3d symmetry in the photocured polymers are unambiguously confirmed by synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), which can capture single-crystal-like diffraction patterns. Electron density maps reconstructed from SAXS data complemented by transmission electron microscopy analysis further elucidate the real-space gyroid assemblies. Intriguingly, by tuning the cross-linking through thiol-acrylate chemistry, the mechanical properties of the polymer are modulated without compromising the integrity of Ia3d assemblies. The 3-D percolating gyroid nanochannels demonstrate an ionic conductivity that surpasses that of disordered structures, offering promising prospects for scalable fabrication.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yinuo Wang
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Center for Advanced Low-Dimension Materials, and College of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
| | - Ya-Xin Li
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, China
| | - Qing Li
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Center for Advanced Low-Dimension Materials, and College of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
| | - Ruoyin Jia
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, China
| | - Qingchen Tang
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Center for Advanced Low-Dimension Materials, and College of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
| | - Hairui Huang
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Center for Advanced Low-Dimension Materials, and College of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
| | - Yizhou Zhang
- Advanced Institute for Materials Research (WPI-AIMR), Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan
| | - Xunda Feng
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Center for Advanced Low-Dimension Materials, and College of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Wieser P, Moser D, Gollas B, Amenitsch H. Monitoring of Pore Orientation by in Operando Grazing Incidence Small-Angle X-ray Scattering during Templated Electrodeposition of Mesoporous Pt Films. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2023; 15:47604-47614. [PMID: 37769130 PMCID: PMC10571001 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c03316] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Accepted: 09/11/2023] [Indexed: 09/30/2023]
Abstract
We have used in operando grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) to monitor structural changes during templated electrodeposition of mesoporous platinum films on gold electrodes from a ternary lyotropic liquid crystalline mixture of aqueous hexachloroplatinic acid and the diblock copolymer surfactant Brij56. While the cylindrical micelles of the lyotropic liquid crystal (LLC) in the hexagonal phase have a center-to-center distance of 7.5 nm with a preferential alignment parallel to the electrode surface, the electrodeposited platinum films contain highly ordered mesopores arranged in a 2D hexagonal structure, with a center-to-center distance of about 8.5 nm and a preferential orientation perpendicular to the electrode surface. The progression of structural changes of the LLC template and the deposited mesoporous Pt could be monitored for the first time in operando by GISAXS: within the first 14 s of deposition, a nucleation burst of Pt coincides with a loss of preferential alignment of the LLC. Initially, the morphology of the 2-dimensionally nucleated Pt replicates the Au substrate. During the following 5 to 7 min, the growth morphology of the Pt film changes, and vertically aligned mesopores form. Our results indicate mutual interaction between the species involved in the electrodeposition and the LLC template, leading to a partial loss of horizontal orientation of the LLC during Pt nucleation before vertical rearrangement of the micelles to the electrode surface. The vertically aligned mesopores in the Pt and the possibility to produce freestanding films make these materials interesting in fields such as electrocatalysis, energy harvesting, and nanofluidics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Philipp
Aldo Wieser
- Institute
of Inorganic Chemistry, Graz University
of Technology, Graz 8010, Austria
| | - David Moser
- Institute
of Electron Microscopy and Nanoanalysis, Graz University of Technology, Graz 8010, Austria
| | - Bernhard Gollas
- Institute
for Chemistry and Technology of Materials, Graz University of Technology, Graz 8010, Austria
| | - Heinz Amenitsch
- Institute
of Inorganic Chemistry, Graz University
of Technology, Graz 8010, Austria
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Wu H, Huang H, Zhang Y, Lu X, Majewski PW, Feng X. Stabilizing Differential Interfacial Curvatures by Mismatched Molecular Geometries: Toward Polymers with Percolating 1 nm Channels of Gyroid Minimal Surfaces. ACS NANO 2022; 16:21139-21151. [PMID: 36516967 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.2c09103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Soft materials with self-assembled networks possess saddle-shaped interfaces with distributed negative Gaussian curvatures. The ability to stabilize such a geometry is critically important for various applications but can be challenging due to the possibly "deficient" packing of the building blocks. This nontrivial challenge has been manifested, for example, by the limited availability of cross-linkable bicontinuous cubic (Q) liquid crystals (LCs), which can be utilized to fabricate compelling polymers with networked nanochannels uniformly sized at ∼1 nm. Here, we devise a facile approach to stabilizing cross-linkable Q mesophases by leveraging the synergistic self-assembly from pairs of scalably synthesized polymerizable amphiphiles. Hybridization of the molecular geometries by mixing significantly increases the propensity of the local deviations in the interfacial curvature specifically required for Q assemblies. "Normal" (type 1) double gyroid LCs possessing 1 nm ionic channels conforming to minimal surfaces can be formulated by simultaneous hydration of the amphiphile mixtures, as opposed to the formation of hexagonal or lamellar mesophases exhibited by the single-amphiphile systems, respectively. Fixation of the bicontinuous network in polymers via radical polymerization has been efficaciously facilitated by the presence of the bifunctional polymerizable groups in one of the employed amphiphiles. High-fidelity lock-in of the ordered continuous 1 nm channels has been unambiguously confirmed by the observation of single-crystal-like diffraction patterns from synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering and large-area periodicities by transmission electron microscopy. The produced polymeric materials exhibit the required mechanical integrity as well as chemical robustness in a variety of organic solvents that benefit their practical applications for selective transport of ions and molecules.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hanyu Wu
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Center for Advanced Low-Dimension Materials, and College of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai201620, People's Repubic of China
| | - Hairui Huang
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Center for Advanced Low-Dimension Materials, and College of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai201620, People's Repubic of China
| | - Yizhou Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Organic Compound Pollution Control Engineering, Ministry of Education, and School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai200444, People's Repubic of China
| | - Xinglin Lu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui230026, People's Repubic of China
| | - Pawel W Majewski
- Department of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, Warsaw02089, Poland
| | - Xunda Feng
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Center for Advanced Low-Dimension Materials, and College of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai201620, People's Repubic of China
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Akbar S, Elliott JM, Squires AM, Anwar A. Use of cubic structure with primitive nanochannels for fabrication of free standing 3D nanowire network of Pt with Pm3msymmetry. NANOTECHNOLOGY 2022; 33:195602. [PMID: 35081522 DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac4f16] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2021] [Accepted: 01/26/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
In this work, we developed a lipid mixture based on phytantriol / polyoxyethylene surfactant (Brij-56) that forms aIm3msymmetry bicontinuous cubic phase based on the Schwartz primitive surface (QIIP), from which we templated highly ordered 3D nanoporous platinum with a novel 'single primitive' morphology (Pm3msymmetry). TheQIIPtemplate phase is obtained by incorporation of 17.5% w/w Brij-56 (C16EO10) (a type-I surfactant) into phytantriol under excess hydration conditions. Phytantriol alone forms the double diamondQIID(Pn3m) phase, and in previous studies incorporating Brij-56 at different compositions the cubic phase maintained this morphology, but increased its lattice parameter; mesoporous metals templated from theseQIIDlipid templates all exhibited the 'single diamond' (Fd3m) morphology. In contrast, the current paper presents the availability of ourQIIPcubic phases to template nanoporous materials of single primitivePm3mmorphology via chemical and electrochemical methods. To explore the structure porosity and morphological features of the templated Pt material, x-ray scattering and transmission electron microscopy are used. The resulting 3D nanoporous Pt materials are found to exhibit a regular network of Pt nanowires of ∼4 nm in diameter with a unit cell dimension of 14.8 ± 0.8 nm, reflecting the aqueous network within theQIIPtemplate.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Samina Akbar
- Department of Chemistry, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, RG6 6AD, United Kingdom
- Department of Basic Sciences and Humanities, University of Engineering and Technology New Campus, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Joanne M Elliott
- Department of Chemistry, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, RG6 6AD, United Kingdom
| | - Adam M Squires
- Department of Chemistry, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, RG6 6AD, United Kingdom
- Department of Chemistry, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom
| | - Aneela Anwar
- Department of Basic Sciences and Humanities, University of Engineering and Technology New Campus, Lahore, Pakistan
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Imran OQ, Li P, Kim NK, Gin DL, Osuji CO. Stable cross-linked lyotropic gyroid mesophases from single-head/single-tail cross-linkable monomers. Chem Commun (Camb) 2021; 57:10931-10934. [PMID: 34596176 DOI: 10.1039/d1cc04211d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
A single-head/single-tail surfactant with a polymerizable group at each end is presented as a new simplified motif for intrinsically cross-linkable, gyroid-phase lyotropic mesogens. The resulting nanoporous polymer networks exhibit excellent structural stability in various solvents and are capable of molecular size discrimination.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Omar Q Imran
- Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06510, USA.,Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| | - Patrick Li
- Department of Chemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
| | - Na Kyung Kim
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| | - Douglas L Gin
- Department of Chemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
| | - Chinedum O Osuji
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Wu H, Xu F, Gao G, Feng X. Highly Ordered Interconnected 1 nm Pores in Polymers Fabricated from Easily Accessible Gyroid Liquid Crystals. Macromolecules 2021. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.1c00721] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Hanyu Wu
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Center for Advanced Low-Dimension Materials, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
- College of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
| | - Fengxian Xu
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Center for Advanced Low-Dimension Materials, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
- College of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
| | - Guanzhen Gao
- College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
| | - Xunda Feng
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Center for Advanced Low-Dimension Materials, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Takeuchi H, Ichikawa T. Creation of Gyroid Nanostructured Polymer Films from Lyotropic Liquid Crystals Containing a Polymerizable Ionic Liquid as a Solvent. CHEM LETT 2021. [DOI: 10.1246/cl.210021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Hiroaki Takeuchi
- Department of Biotechnology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, 2-24-16 Naka-cho, Koganei, Tokyo 184-8588, Japan
| | - Takahiro Ichikawa
- Department of Biotechnology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, 2-24-16 Naka-cho, Koganei, Tokyo 184-8588, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Choi F, Nirmal G, Pizzardi M, Acosta EJ. Formulating and Retaining the Structure of Polymerized Surfactant Phases Using a Microemulsion Curvature Framework. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2019; 35:16821-16834. [PMID: 31755720 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b02822] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Nanostructured polymers contain features smaller than 100 nm that are useful in a wide range of areas, including photonics, biomedical materials, and environmental applications. Out of the myriad of nanostructured polymers, surfactant-templated polymers are versatile because of their ability to have tunable domain sizes, structure, and composition. This work addresses the gap between the formulation with industrial-grade polymerizable surfactants and the final structure of the polymer, using the hydrophilic-lipophilic difference (HLD) and net-average curvature (NAC) frameworks. HLD indicates the proximity of the formulation (surfactant and oil monomer selection, temperature, electrolyte concentration) to the phase inversion point, where HLD = 0. NAC uses the HLD to determine the curvature of the surfactant-oil-water interface, leading not only to the size and shape of micelles and bicontinuous isotropic (L3) systems but also to defining the most likely regions for lyotropic liquid crystal (LLC) existence and phase separation in ternary phase diagrams. Polymerizing LLC fluids produced nanostructured polymers with similar LLC structures that were highly swellable, but with low compressive strength. Polymerizing L3 fluids produced strong, but less water-swellable nanostructured polymers with a similar characteristic length to the parent L3 microemulsion. The relatively small scale of the parent LLC (∼6-8 nm) or L3 (∼3-4 nm) systems is consistent with the translucent nature of the polymers produced and the HLD-NAC predicted sizes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Francis Choi
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry , University of Toronto , Toronto M5S3E5 , Ontario , Canada
| | - Ghata Nirmal
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry , University of Toronto , Toronto M5S3E5 , Ontario , Canada
| | - Monica Pizzardi
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry , University of Toronto , Toronto M5S3E5 , Ontario , Canada
| | - Edgar J Acosta
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry , University of Toronto , Toronto M5S3E5 , Ontario , Canada
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Kasprzak CR, Scherzinger ET, Sarkar A, Miao M, Porcincula DH, Madriz AM, Pennewell ZM, Chau SS, Fernando R, Stefik M, Zhang S. Ordered Nanostructures of Carbon Nanotube–Polymer Composites from Lyotropic Liquid Crystal Templating. MACROMOL CHEM PHYS 2018. [DOI: 10.1002/macp.201800197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Christopher R. Kasprzak
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo CA 93407 USA
| | - Evan T. Scherzinger
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo CA 93407 USA
| | - Amrita Sarkar
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry University of South Carolina Columbia SC 29208 USA
| | - Miranda Miao
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo CA 93407 USA
| | - Dominique H. Porcincula
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo CA 93407 USA
| | - Alejandro M. Madriz
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo CA 93407 USA
| | - Zachary M. Pennewell
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo CA 93407 USA
| | - Sophia S. Chau
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo CA 93407 USA
| | - Raymond Fernando
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo CA 93407 USA
| | - Morgan Stefik
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry University of South Carolina Columbia SC 29208 USA
| | - Shanju Zhang
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo CA 93407 USA
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Akbar S, Boswell J, Worsley C, Elliott JM, Squires AM. Ultrathin Uniform Platinum Nanowires via a Facile Route Using an Inverse Hexagonal Surfactant Phase Template. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2018; 34:6991-6996. [PMID: 29782804 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.7b03970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
We present an attractive method for the fabrication of long, straight, highly crystalline, ultrathin platinum nanowires. The fabrication is simply achieved using an inverse hexagonal (HII) lyotropic liquid crystal phase of the commercial surfactant phytantriol as a template. A platinum precursor dissolved within the cylindrical aqueous channels of the liquid crystal phase is chemically reduced by galvanic displacement using stainless steel. We demonstrate the production of nanowires using the HII phase in the phytantriol/water system which we obtain either by heating to 55 °C or at room temperature by the addition of a hydrophobic liquid, 9- cis-tricosene, to relieve packing frustration. The two sets of conditions produced high aspect nanowires with diameters of 2.5 and 1.7 nm, respectively, at least hundreds of nanometers in length, matching the size of the aqueous channels in which they grow. This versatile approach can be extended to produce highly uniform nanowires from a range of metals.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Samina Akbar
- Department of Chemistry , University of Reading , Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AD , U.K
- Department of Basic Sciences and Humanities , University of Engineering and Technology , KSK Campus, GT Road , Lahore , Pakistan
| | - Jacob Boswell
- Department of Chemistry , University of Bath , Bath BA2 7AY , U.K
| | - Carys Worsley
- Department of Chemistry , University of Bath , Bath BA2 7AY , U.K
| | - Joanne M Elliott
- Department of Chemistry , University of Reading , Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AD , U.K
| | - Adam M Squires
- Department of Chemistry , University of Reading , Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AD , U.K
- Department of Chemistry , University of Bath , Bath BA2 7AY , U.K
| |
Collapse
|