Immobilization of Antibody on a Cyclic Olefin Copolymer Surface with Functionalizable, Non-Biofouling Poly[Oligo(Ethylene Glycol) Methacrylate].

We report a perfluoroaryl azide-based photoreaction for synthesizing functionalizable and nonbiofouling poly[oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylate] (pOEGMA) films on a chemically inert COC substrate, and an estimation of a surface coverage of the antibody immobilized onto the surface with the immuno-gold nanoparticles. The processes were confirmed by water contact angle measurement, FT-IR spectroscopy, and FE-SEM. The strategy demonstrated in this work could be applied to functionalizations of other polymeric materials and determination of the binding capacity of analytes in biosensors and microfluidic devices.

Modulation of Cation Diffusion by Reversible Supramolecular Assemblies in Ionic Liquid-Based Nanocomposites.

Ionic liquid (IL) properties, such as high ionic conductivity under ambient conditions combined with nontoxicity and nonflammability, make them important materials for future technologies. Despite high ion conductivity desired for battery applications, cation transport numbers in ILs are not sufficient enough to attain high power density batteries. Thus, developing novel approaches directed toward improvement of cation transport properties is required for the application of ILs in energy-storing devices. In this effort, we used various experimental techniques to demonstrate that the strategy of mixing ILs with ultrasmall (1.8 nm) nanoparticles (NPs) resulted in melt-processable composites with improved transport numbers for cations at room temperature. This significant enhancement in the transport number was attributed to the specific chemistry of NPs exhibiting a weaker cation and stronger anion coordination at ambient temperature. At high temperature, significantly weakened NP-anion associations promoted a liquid-like behavior of composites, highlighting the melt-processability of these composites. These results show that designing a reversible dynamic noncovalent NP-anion association controlled by the temperature may constitute an effective strategy to control ion diffusion. Our studies provide fundamental insights into mechanisms driving the charge transport and offer practical guidance for the design of melt-processable composites with an improved cation transport number under ambient conditions.

High Energy Density in Azobenzene-based Materials for Photo-Thermal Batteries via Controlled Polymer Architecture and Polymer-Solvent Interactions.

Energy densities of ~510 J/g (max: 698 J/g) have been achieved in azobenzene-based syndiotactic-rich poly(methacrylate) polymers. The processing solvent and polymer-solvent interactions are important to achieve morphologically optimal structures for high-energy density materials. This work shows that morphological changes of solid-state syndiotactic polymers, driven by different solvent processings play an important role in controlling the activation energy of Z-E isomerization as well as the shape of the DSC exotherm. Thus, this study shows the crucial role of processing solvents and thin film structure in achieving higher energy densities.

Binding behaviors of protein on spatially controlled poly[oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylate] brushes grafted from mixed self-assembled monolayers on gold.

Binding behaviors of streptavidin were investigated with different lateral packing densities of biotin-functionalized, non-biofouling pOEGMA brushes, synthesized by surface-initiated polymerization from mixed SAMs with different mole fractions of the polymerization initiator on gold surfaces.