Block Copolymer Micelles Generated by Crystallization-Driven Self-Assembly in Polymer Matrices

REVIEW

  • Jessica Gutiérrez González Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata
  • Ruth N. Schmarsow Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata
  • Úrsula M. Montoya Rojo ITPN-UBA-CONICET
  • Julieta Puig INTEMA-CONICET
  • Walter F. Schroeder Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata - CONICET
  • Ileana Alicia Zucchi INTEMA
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52712/sciencereviews.v1i3.17

Abstract

In this review, we show how Crystallization-Driven Self-Assembly (CDSA), a method originally employed for the self-assembly of block copolymers in solution, was extended to the synthesis of elongated micellar nanostructures in polymer matrices. By highlighting some of the works published by our group in this area, the conditions to synthesize nanostructured polymers by CDSA are discussed. The knowledge of these conditions will allow developing a new generation of nanomaterials with tailored architecture based on a given application.

Author Biographies

Jessica Gutiérrez González, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata

Jessica Gutiérrez González received her B.Sc. degree in Chemistry from University of Quindío, Colombia. From 2013 to 2016, she participated in biological sciences projects at the National University of Mar del Plata (UNMdP, Argentina). She is currently a Ph. D student in Material Sciences at the UNMdP. Her main research interests include the study and characterization of nanostructured materials obtained by the self-assembly of semi-crystalline block copolymers.

Ruth N. Schmarsow, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata

Ruth N. Schmarsow received her B.Sc. degree in Chemistry from the National University of Mar del Plata (UNMdP , Argentina) in 2017. She is a teaching associate at the Department of Chemistry of the UNMdP. She is currently a Ph.D student in Material Sciences at the School of Engineering of the UNMdP. Her main research interest is the synthesis and characterization of functional materials obtained by semi-crystalline block copolymer self-assembly in different polymer matrices.

Úrsula M. Montoya Rojo, ITPN-UBA-CONICET

Úrsula Montoya Rojo is an assistant professor at the School of Engineering of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA, Argentina). She has a degree on Agroindustrial Engineering from University Pontificia Bolivariana (Colombia). She received her PhD in Materials Science from the National University of Mar del Plata (UNMdP, Argentina) in 2017. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Biotechnology and Biosynthesis Group (ITPN-UBA-CONICET, Argentina). She has been active in the field of nanostructures of biopolymers based on vegetable and bacterial cellulose nanofibers as well as on self-assembly as a strategy to obtain nanostructures in different polymeric networks.

Julieta Puig, INTEMA-CONICET

Julieta Puig obtained her B.Sc. in Chemistry (2009) and PhD in Materials Science (2014) from the National University of Mar del Plata (UNMdP, Argentina). Her PhD focused on different tailor-made polymeric matrices and their modification using several types of hydrophobic modifiers for the development of functional materials with technological properties. For her postdoc, she worked in the generation of novel nanostructures of block copolymers in an epoxy monomer via photo- and thermal polymerization. She is currently working as an Assistant Researcher at INTEMA-CONICET. Her main research interest is the preparation of functional nanostructured materials with special optical and thermal properties for the development of Smart Windows.

Walter F. Schroeder, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata - CONICET

Walter F. Schroeder obtained his B.Sc and Ph.D. degrees at University of Mar del Plata (UNMdP, Argentina). He was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto (Canada), where he studied polymer diffusion by Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET). He is currently a scientific researcher for CONICET and a professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering of the UNMdP. His main research interest is the study of the kinetic and thermodynamic aspects involved in the formation of nanostructured materials obtained by self-assembly of block copolymers in polymer matrices.

Ileana Alicia Zucchi, INTEMA

Ileana A. Zucchi obtained her B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the National University of Mar del Plata (UNMdP, Argentina). She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems of the National Research Council of Italy, studying the generation of block copolymer templates for advanced nanolithography applications. Since 2008, she is a researcher scientist for CONICET and teaching assistant at the Department of Chemical Engineering of the UNMdP. Her research focuses on the development of functional materials through the self-assembly of block copolymers.

Published
2020-06-12
Issue
Vol 1 No 3: June 2020
Section
Articles