Controlling Materials Properties through Self-Assembly of Nanoparticles, Conjugated Polymers, and DNA

The combination of nanoparticles and polymers offers a powerful route to generate soft materials possessing unique optical, electrical, and magnetic properties of nanoparticles and excellent processibility of polymers. Inspired by the way nature forms functional supramolecular assemblies using lipid bilayers as architectural skeletons, we utilize the self-assembly of amphiphilic block-copolymers and nanoparticles to control the organization and properties of nanoparticles and polymers of various compositions. We found that the incorporation of nanoparticles can drastically impact the self-assembly behavior of amphiphilic block-copolymers, and elucidated key parameters that affect the resulting co-assembly structures. Based on the understanding, we have fabricated various types of well-defined block-copolymer assemblies including superparamagnetic polymersomes with extraordinarily high magnetic relaxation rates. Furthermore, we have incorporated functional polymers such as conjugated polymers and biopolymers into the self-assembly system. Importantly, we have shown that the physical properties of incorporated conjugated polymers and DNA can be drastically modified and enhanced by controlling their self-assembly structure.

For more information contact Mr. Matthew Kennedy (404-894-4016).