The Link Between Star Polymer Structure and polymer/polymer-film dynamics

Cesar Castro

Cesar Castro – rising senior. He is from Yucatán, Mexico but resides in Napa California where he graduated from New Technology Highschool. He is passionate about physics, environmental sustainability, trying new things, and skateboarding. In his spare time, Cesar likes to mess around with computers, watch movies, and dabble in random new activites. He is in the process of completing his capstone experience within the Physics major and Chemistry minor while preparing for graduate school. After Wesleyan, Cesar plans to use his skills to pursue a career in research – possibly in the fields of medicine, nanotechnology, renewables, or physics.

Abstract:
Modern nanotechnological innovations are ubiquitous parts of our lives. Nanotechnology can be found anywhere – from coronavirus vaccines to soaps and even foods. Ultra-thin films have widespread use in industry, including aeronautics, health, and plastics manufacturing. Star polymers are simple extensions of linear polymers consisting of f-number of arms and m-number of beads per arm. We are studying how small amounts of star-polymer added to traditional polymer materials alter the dynamical properties of these composite materials. Recent work on pure star-polymer materials has characterized the system’s dynamical heterogeneity, however, little work has been done on star-polymer nano-composites. We aim to describe the topological effects of star polymers in bulk systems and translate those results to ultra thin-film systems. Specifically, we investigate how star confirmation affects the material’s glass transition temperature through molecular simulations. We find that a fluffy star polymer topology results in enhanced interactions with the surrounding polymer matrix, which in turn increases relaxation time and leads to larger glass transition temperatures. From the data, we are also able to characterize the soft colloid transition of star polymers and relaxation behavior. Overall, we find that star polymer confirmations significantly affect bulk system dynamical properties.

Video:

Cesar Castro – Physics Department

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