File(s) under permanent embargo
Microengineering of soft functional materials by controlling the fiber network formation
The engineering of soft functional materials based on the construction of three-dimensional interconnecting self-organized nanofiber networks is reported. The system under investigation is an organogel formed by N-lauroyl-L-glutamic acid di-n-butylamide (GP-1) in propylene glycol. The engineering of soft functional materials is implemented by controlling primary nucleation kinetics of GP-1, which can be achieved by both reducing thermodynamic driving force and/or introducing a tiny amount of specific copolymers (i.e., poly(methyl methacrylate comethacrylic acid)). The primary nucleation rate of GP-1 is correlated to the number density of GP-1 spherulites, which determines the overall rheological properties of soft functional materials. The results show that the presence of a tiny amount of the polymer (0.01-0.06%) can effectively inhibit the nucleation of GP-1 spherulites, which leads to the formation of integrated fiber networks. It follows that with the additive approach, the viscoelasticity of the soft functional material is significantly enhanced (i.e., more than 1.5 times at 40 °C). A combination of the thermal and additive approach led to an improvement of 3.5 times in the viscosity of the gel.
History
Journal
The journal of physical chemistry bVolume
113Issue
47Pagination
15467 - 15472Publisher
American Chemical SocietyLocation
Washington, D.C.Publisher DOI
ISSN
1520-6106eISSN
1520-5207Language
engPublication classification
C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2009, American Chemical SocietyUsage metrics
Categories
No categories selectedKeywords
Licence
Exports
RefWorks
BibTeX
Ref. manager
Endnote
DataCite
NLM
DC