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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Amine-functionalized porous organic polymers for carbon dioxide capture

Recent developments in CO 2 capture using porous organic polymers (POPs) have received accrescent attention due to their sorbent properties such as high CO 2 uptake capacity and selectivity, tunable chemical structure and permanent porosity. POPs are constructed using two and/or three-dimensional organic monomers (building blocks) linked to each other through covalent bonding, creating high porosity. The pore structure in POPs is exceptionally stable, which leads to their cyclable CO 2 adsorption performance. However, POPs generally suffer from low CO 2 uptake and selectivity due to their interaction with CO 2 in physisorption limits (20–40 kJ mol -1 ). Similar to that in other physisorbents, the CO 2 uptake capacity of POPs further decreases under humid conditions. Pursuant to these limitations, amine functionalization in POPs has resulted in enhanced CO 2 uptake performance with improved CO 2 selectivity over non-polar gases such as N 2 . More importantly, several types of amine-functionalized POPs showed that the CO 2 uptake could remain intact under humid conditions such as in post-combustion flue gas. This review article covers recent developments in amine-functionalized porous organic polymers. Three main categories of amine functionalization, such as direct amine synthesis, amine impregnation and amine grafting, were investigated in detail by considering the effect of amines on the sorbent properties and CO 2 capture performance of POPs. The recent findings in amine-functionalized POPs were investigated including porous polymeric networks (PPNs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs), amine linked POPs, hyper-crosslinked polymers (HCPs), conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs), benzimidazole linked polymers (BILPs), porous aromatic frameworks (PAFs) and polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs).

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Rapid Access to Diverse Multicomponent Hierarchical Nanostructures from Mixed–Graft Block Copolymers

Multicomponent nanostructured materials assembled from molecular building blocks received wide attention due to their precisely integrated multifunctionalities. However, discovery of these materials with desirable composition and morphology was limited by their low synthetic scalability and narrow structural tuning window with given building blocks. Here, we report a scalable and diversity-oriented synthetic approach to hierarchically structured nanomaterials based on a few readily accessible building blocks. Mixed-graft block copolymers containing sequence-defined side chains were prepared through ring-opening metathesis copolymerization of three or four types of macromonomers. Intramolecularly defined interfaces promoted the formation of ordered hierarchical structures with lattice sizes tunable across multiple length scales. Finally, the same set of macromonomers were arranged and combined in different ways, providing access to diverse morphologies in the resultant structures.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Modular Approach for the Synthesis of Bottlebrush Diblock Copolymers from Poly(Glycidyl Methacrylate)-block-Poly(Vinyldimethylazlactone) Backbones

A strategy that enables the facile synthesis of bottlebrush block copolymers with flexible backbones was developed. A demonstration of the strategy’s utility was carried out by grafting end-functionalized polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and polystyrene (PS) to the dually reactive block copolymer, poly(glycidyl methacrylate)-block-poly(vinyldimethylazlactone) (PGMA-b-PVDMA). Five different bottlebrush diblock copolymers were investigated by size-exclusion chromatography (SEC), 1H NMR, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray scattering methods, atomic force microscopy (AFM), rheology and computational simulations using molecular dynamics (MD), and self-consistent field theory (SCFT). A relationship between the glass transition temperature and the fraction of chain ends was demonstrated by DSC and highlights the potential of this synthetic method to tailor polymer properties. All five samples were found to be in a disordered phase exhibiting multiscale structures revealed by two broad peaks in small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) that can be attributed to graft-to-graft and backbone-to-backbone density correlations using MD simulations. The SCFT-based simulations justify the observation of a disordered phase due to its stabilization by the grafts. Additionally, this modular approach can be easily extended to other grafts, including responsive, conducting, and charged polymers with the prerequisite end groups. The versatility and ease of assembling these functional bottlebrushes constitute a powerful “toolbox” method for the rapid and scalable synthesis of novel bottlebrush block copolymers with desired properties.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Effects of Tethered Polymers on Dynamics of Nanoparticles in Unentangled Polymer Melts

Polymer-tethered nanoparticles (NPs) are commonly added to a polymer matrix to improve the material properties. Critical to the fabrication and processing of such composites is the mobility of the tethered NPs. Here, we study the motion of tethered NPs in unentangled polymer melts using molecular dynamics simulations, which offer a precise control of the grafted chain length N g and the number z of grafted chains per particle. As Ng increases, there is a crossover from particle-dominated to tethered-chain-dominated terminal diffusion of NPs with the same z. The mean squared displacement of loosely tethered NPs in the case of tethered-chain-dominated terminal diffusion exhibits two subdiffusive regimes at intermediate time scales for small z. The first one at shorter time scales arises from the dynamical coupling of the particle and matrix chains, while the one at longer time scales is due to the participation of the particle in the dynamics of the tethered chains. The friction of loosely grafted chains in unentangled melts scales linearly with the total number of monomers in the chains, as the friction of individual monomers is additive in the absence of hydrodynamic coupling. As more chains are grafted to a particle, hydrodynamic interactions between grafted chains emerge. As a result, there is a nondraining layer of hydrodynamically coupled chain segments surrounding the bare particle. Outside the nondraining layer is a free-draining layer of grafted chain segments with no hydrodynamic coupling. The boundary of the two layers is the stick surface where the shear stress due to the relative melt flow is balanced by the friction between the grafted and melt chains in the interpenetration layer. The stick surface is located further away from the bare surface of the particle with higher grafting density.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Understanding, quantifying, and controlling the molecular ordering of semiconducting polymers: from novices to experts and amorphous to perfect crystals

Molecular packing and texture of semiconducting polymers are often critical to the performance of devices using these materials. Although frameworks exist to quantify the ordering, interpretations are often just qualitative, resulting in imprecise use of terminology. Here, we reemphasize the significance of quantifying molecular ordering in terms of degree of crystallinity (volume fractions that are ordered) and quality of ordering and their relation to the size scale of an ordered region. We are motivated in part by our own imprecise and inconsistent use of terminology in the past, as well as the need to have a primer or tutorial reference to teach new group members. We strive to develop and use consistent terminology with regards to crystallinity, semicrystallinity, paracrystallinity, and related characteristics. To account for vastly different quality of ordering along different directions, we classify paracrystals into 2D and 3D paracrystals and use paracrystallite to describe the spatial extent of molecular ordering in 1–10 nm. We show that a deeper understanding of molecular ordering can be achieved by combining grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering and differential scanning calorimetry, even though not all aspects of these measurements are consistent, and some classification appears to be method dependent. We classify a broad range of representative polymers under common processing conditions into five categories based on the quantitative analysis of the paracrystalline disorder parameter (g) and thermal transitions. A small database is presented for 13 representative conjugated and insulating polymers ranging from amorphous to semi-paracrystalline. Lastly, we outline the challenges to rationally design more perfect polymer crystals and propose a new molecular design approach that envisions conceptual molecular grafting that is akin to strained and unstrained hetero-epitaxy in classic (compound) semiconductors thin film growth.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Crystallization kinetics and nanoparticle ordering in semicrystalline polymer nanocomposites

There has been considerable interest in the nucleation and crystallization of polymers in the presence of nanoparticles (NPs, or nanofillers in general, NFs). Most of the extensive work in this area has focused on anisotropic, non-Brownian NFs (e.g., clay sheets, carbon nanotubes) whose spatial dispersion state in these nanocomposites is controlled by the process by which they are formed. Hence, NF spatial dispersion is generally limited and often remains poorly characterized. Thermodynamic handles that can be used to control NF dispersion state in the polymer melt include (a) favorable interactions between the polymer chains and the bare NP surfaces, or (b) the density and length of the chains, with the same chemistry as the matrix, grafted to the NP surface. These relatively large NFs merely act as stationary objects that affect the kinetics of nucleation by providing heterogeneous sites, and the crystallization rate by confining the polymer in the melt state. The dispersion state of the NFs can dramatically affect the nucleation and crystallization of the matrix, but in most cases reported, the NFs increase nucleation efficiency relative to the neat polymer. At higher NF loadings, the effect of polymer confinement by the NFs dominates, leading to a decrease in crystal growth rates. This review describes the most important lessons learned from these commonly studied systems and then extends to polymer composite systems containing small, mobile spherical NPs (typically smaller than 100 nm in size). The role of NP mobility, which provides for dynamic confinement of the polymer melt, on the kinetics of polymer crystallization (nucleation, growth, and overall crystallization) and how this behavior is mostly consistent with the case of immobile NF is a second important focus of this review. In addition to the role of NFs on crystallization kinetics, recently reported nanoparticle ordering phenomena such as the effect of matrix crystallization on the organization of small spherical NPs within the amorphous regions of the semicrystalline morphology are discussed. In conclusion, such phenomena are clearly not observed for large NFs and hence provide a point of departure from past works in this area.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Impacts of Bond Type and Grafting Density on the Thermal, Structural, and Transport Behaviors of Nanoparticle Organic Hybrid Materials–Based Electrolytes

Nanoscale Organic Hybrid Materials (NOHMs) consist of polymers tethered to a nanoparticle surface, and NOHMs formed with an ionic bond between the polymer and nanoparticle have been proposed for electrochemical applications. NOHMs exhibit negligible vapor pressure, chemical tunability, oxidative thermal stability, and high ionic conductivity making them attractive in reactive and separation systems. In this study, NOHMs are synthesized by tethering Jeffamine M2070 (HPE) to SiO 2 nanocores via ionic (NOHM-I-HPE) and covalent (NOHM-C-HPE) bonding to investigate the effect of the bond type on the thermal, structural and transport properties of the tethered HPE. In the neat state, NOHM-C-HPE displays the highest thermal stability in a nitrogen atmosphere, while NOHM-I-HPE is the most stable under oxidative conditions. Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) reveals the presence of multiple types of HPE polymers in aqueous solutions of NOHM-I-HPE (i.e., tethered, interacting, and free), whereas only tethered HPE is observed in NOHM-C-HPE systems. Moreover, the SANS profiles identify clustering of NOHM-C-HPE in aqueous solutions, but not in the corresponding NOHM-I-HPE solutions, suggesting that the free HPE chains stabilize the dispersion of NOHM-I-HPE. Furthermore, the results of this study elucidate how the bond type and grafting density can be used to tune the properties of NOHMs.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Polymer-iron oxide hybrid films for controlling electrokinetic properties

Electrokinetic phenomena at polymer-water interfaces are central to technologies for water purification, ion separations, and energy conversion, yet the ability to systematically control polymer surface charge and associated electrokinetic processes remains limited. Here, we demonstrate a simple liquid-phase infiltration (LPI) method to synthesize polymer–metal oxide hybrid films with controllable interfacial properties. Hydroxy-terminated poly(2-vinylpyridine) (P2VP-OH) brushes grafted to silicon substrates were infiltrated with iron nitrate from ethanolic solution, followed by low-temperature thermal treatment to convert the infiltrated precursor into iron oxide. Spectroscopic ellipsometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis confirmed oxide incorporation and hybrid film formation without polymer degradation. Electrokinetic measurements reveal that the hybrid films acquire the electrokinetic properties of the infiltrated oxide, with concentration-dependent streaming potentials and surface conductivities closely matching those of pure iron oxide films. These results establish metal oxide infiltration as a scalable and low-cost strategy for controlling interfacial charge in polymer surfaces. The approach introduces new materials and design parameters for tailoring ion selectivity, transport, and energy conversion, with broad implications for the development of advanced membranes, electrokinetic harvesting devices, and polymer-supported oxide electrodes.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Cooperativity in the Aldol Condensation Using Bifunctional Mesoporous Silica–Poly(styrene) MCM-41 Organic/Inorganic Hybrid Catalysts

This work explores the efficacy of silica/organic hybrid catalysts, where the organic component is built from linear aminopolymers appended to the silica support within the support mesopores. Specifically, the role of molecular weight and polymer chain composition in amine-bearing atom transfer radical polymerization-synthesized poly(styrene-co-2-(4-vinylbenzyl)isoindoline-1,3-dione) copolymers is probed in the aldol condensation of 4-nitrobenzaldehyde and acetone. Controlled polymerization produces protected amine-containing poly(styrene) chains of controlled molecular weight and dispersity, and a grafting-to thiol–ene coupling approach followed by a phthalimide deprotection step are used to covalently tether and activate the polymer hybrid catalysts prior to the catalytic reactions. Site-normalized batch kinetics are used to assess the role of polymer molecular weight and chain composition in the cooperative catalysis. Lower-molecular-weight copolymers are demonstrated to be more active than catalysts built from only molecular organic components or from higher-molecular-weight chains. Molecular dynamics simulations are used to probe the role of polymer flexibility and morphology, whereby it is determined that higher-molecular-weight hybrid structures result in congested pores that inhibit active site cooperativity and the diffusivity of reagents, thus resulting in lower rates during the reaction.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

A Review on Direct Air Capture of Carbon Dioxide: Sorbent Materials, Process Engineering, Industrial Scale-Up, and Future Perspectives

The relentless accumulation of anthropogenic greenhouse gases has driven atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations to approximately 426 ppm, necessitating the aggressive deployment of negative-emission technologies to achieve net zero by 2050. Direct air capture (DAC) offers a scalable, location-independent approach to atmospheric carbon removal; however, it is fundamentally constrained by the significant thermodynamic barriers associated with capturing CO 2 from ultradilute ambient conditions, requiring minimum thermodynamic energy inputs substantially higher than those for postcombustion point sources. This comprehensive review critically examines the technological landscape of DAC, focusing on the interdependent triad of sorbent material design, contactor engineering, and regeneration thermodynamics. We evaluate the fundamental boundaries of adsorption, emphasizing that an optimal adsorption enthalpy and isosteric heat of adsorption must balance the high CO 2 uptake capacity with the energetic penalties of sorbent regeneration. A systematic, comparative analysis of state-of-the-art sorbents is presented, encompassing mesoporous silicas, zeolites, carbon-based materials (CBMs), metal−organic frameworks (MOFs), porous organic polymers (POPs), and polymeric membranes. Special attention is devoted to surface functionalization strategies, particularly amine grafting and impregnation, which transition capture mechanisms from physisorption to chemisorption to enhance selectivity under ambient moisture and low partial pressures. Furthermore, we assess the operational merits of various reactor configurations, including gas−solid, gas−liquid, and membrane contactors, alongside regeneration cycles such as temperature, vacuum, pressure, and moisture swing adsorption. Finally, the review bridges fundamental materials science with industrial application by chronicling the scale-up milestones of pioneering entities and providing a strategic roadmap for advancing DAC technology readiness levels toward global deployment.

Adsorption↗
DOE OSTI2021

Using Nanofiller Assemblies to Control the Crystallization Kinetics of High-Density Polyethylene

Polyethylene-grafted nanoparticles (NPs) are organized into a variety of assemblies in a polydisperse polyethylene melt by tailoring the graft density and molecular weights of the graft chains. Under these conditions we systematically vary NP assemble state and study is consequences on crystal nucleation and growth rates. We find that the nucleation rate is suppressed below that of the unfilled polymer for good NP spatial dispersion. However, poorer dispersion, which leads to the formation of NP assemblies, can accelerate nucleation likely by providing multiple heterogenous sites due to topographical features. We find that a key parameter, the chain overcrowding in the brush, can predict these nucleation trends – in this language, the most enhanced nucleation rate is found when the grafts are the most overcrowded, and hence the least interpenetrated with the matrix chains. This result is consistent with one other literature result which utilized short crystallizable polyethylene glycol grafts in short PEO matrices. The growth kinetics were retarded for all nanocomposites, their temperature dependences were essentially equal to that for the pure polymer (in the absence of NPs) – the NPs thus do not affect secondary nucleation, indicating that the transport of the matrix to the growth front is the rate determining step. Thus, evidently the increase in matrix viscosity, or reduction in growth rates, is directly determined by the agglomeration state of the NPs. These results are consistent with past works with bare silica NPs in PEO, and with silica NPs grafted with amorphous chains in a PEO matrix, suggesting that growth kinetics in these systems apparently follow “universal” behavior. Additionally, there are initial hints that the ratio of the effective surface area of the NP clusters per unit matrix volume provides a unified description of the NP induced confinement that slows growth kinetics. Furthermore, our work thus shows that there is an evolving understanding of the role of NPs on crystallization kinetics, in particular crystal growth where trends appear to be independent of the grafts ability to crystallize.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Synergistic effect of polyaniline on stabilizing Pt nanoparticles in PEMFCs†

The stability of Pt nanoparticles on a carbon support is crucial for the lifespan of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells as well as other electrocatalysis systems such as electrolyzers. Here we took the approach of utilizing the covalently grafted polyaniline on carbon to stabilize Pt nanoparticles by simultaneously alleviating the particle migration and mitigating the Ostwald ripening, which are two major mechanisms for loss of the catalyst stability. A comprehensive investigation of the stability and performance of Pt catalyst nanoparticles on these supports reveals that the polyaniline can shift the Pt L edge binding energy and the Pt 4f peak energy, leading to the increased redox potential of the Pt nanoparticles and making them more resistant to oxidation. Interestingly, the highest polyaniline density (50 wt%) does not show the best catalyst stability, rather, the second (33 wt%) demonstrates the best catalyst stability among these catalysts. Combining the XPS, XAS and fuel cell stability studies, we concluded that the locations of the Pt nanoparticles over the polyaniline layer on the carbon surface depend on the surface density of the polyaniline over the carbon surface. The Pt nanoparticles in the 50 wt% polyaniline catalyst are wrapped by the polyaniline polymer but do not sit directly on the carbon surface, while Pt nanoparticles in the 33 wt% polyaniline catalyst sit on the carbon surface and are densely surrounded by the polyaniline polymer. The results show that the mass activity loss is 12.5% while the ECSA (electrochemically active surface area) loss is 37.1% after 30k cycles of accelerating stress test for the 33 wt% polyaniline catalyst, far exceeding the DOE 2020 target for MEA (i.e., mass activity loss < 50%, and ECSA loss < 40%). Overall, the polyaniline has a synergistic effect on mitigating the surface migration and slowing down the Ostwald ripening to stabilize the Pt nanoparticles in fuel cells. The novel strategy to stabilize Pt nanoparticles using polyaniline opens a new pathway in the development of highly stable catalysts: relying on the functionalization group on the carbon support, instead of just focusing on the catalyst itself.

Li, Chenzhao↗
DOE OSTI2020

The C‐Terminal Domain of α‐Synuclein Confers Steric Stabilization on Synaptic Vesicle‐Like Surfaces

Abstract While α‐synuclein, an intrinsically disordered protein linked to Parkinson's disease, has been shown to associate with membrane organelles, its overall cellular function remains nebulous. α‐Synuclein binds to membranes through its amino‐terminal domain (first ≈100 residues), but there is no consensus on the biophysical function of the carboxyl‐terminal domain (last ≈40 residues) due, in part, to its lack of strong interaction partners and persisting intrinsic disorder even when membrane bound. Here, by directly applying force on α‐synuclein bound to spherical nanoparticle‐supported lipid bilayers (SSLBs) and tracking higher‐order structural changes through small‐angle X‐ray scattering, strong evidence is presented that α‐synuclein sterically stabilizes membrane surfaces through its carboxyl‐terminal domain. Full‐length α‐synuclein dramatically increases the critical osmotic pressure at which SSLBs cluster ( P C ≈ 1.3 × 10 5 Pa) compared to α‐synuclein without the carboxyl‐terminal domain ( P C ≈ 1.9 × 10 4 Pa) at physiological salt and temperature conditions. This clustering of α‐synuclein‐bound SSLBs is shown to be reversible and sensitive to monovalent/divalent salt, both features of grafted polyelectrolyte‐mediated steric stabilization. In elucidating the biophysical function of α‐synuclein in the framework of polymer science, it is demonstrated that the carboxyl‐terminal domain can potentially utilize its persisting intrinsic disorder to functionalize membrane surfaces.

Chung, Peter J.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Hairy nanoparticles by atom transfer radical polymerization in miniemulsion

Polymer nanoparticles with various architectures and functionalities are promising materials in numerous fields. Miniemulsion polymerization is one of the suitable pathways to prepare polymer nanoparticles since each droplet could act as a “nanoreactor”. A “smart” atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) catalytic system comprising Cu-TPMA/DS – (TPMA = tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine, DS – = dodecyl sulfate anion) ion pair catalyst was efficiently applied in miniemulsion ATRP at low catalyst concentrations. Herein, hairy nanoparticles consisting of hydrophobic poly(n-butyl methacrylate) (P(BMA/EGDMA), EGDMA = ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) network “core” and hydrophilic oligo(ethylene oxide) methyl ether methacrylate (OEOMA) chains as “hair” were prepared by miniemulsion ATRP and a successive chain extension by aqueous ATRP from the particle surface. The addition of an inimer, 2-(α-bromoisobutyryloxy)ethyl methacrylate (HEMA-iBBr) to the P(BMA/EGDMA) network introduced more ATRP initiation sites for ATRP of OEOMA, enabling adjustment of the particle size from >400 nm to <150 nm. The miniemulsion system remained stable after the one pot synthesis of P(BMA/EGDMA)-g-POEOMA and P(BMA/EGDMA/HEMA-iBBr)-g-POEOMA, and the resulting polymer nanoparticles were re-dispersed in water for further modification. A zwitterionic monomer, [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl]dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl)ammonium hydroxide (SBMA), was grafted from P(BMA/EGDMA/HEMA-iBBr)-g-POEOMA. The resulting hairy nanoparticles provide an avenue for the design and preparation of novel nanostructured materials.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Crosslinking and Gelation of Polymer Brushes and Free Polymer Chains in a Confined Space during Controlled Radical Polymerization-A Computer Simulation Study

The confinement effect on crosslinking and gelation during controlled/living copolymerization of a monovinyl and a divinyl monomer was studied by Monte Carlo computer simulation using the dynamic lattice liquid method. The simulated reactions took place in plane-parallel slits of various widths for various grafting densities (GDs) and various initial initiator/crosslinker ratios ([X] 0 /[Ini] 0 ). Monomers and crosslinkers were initially randomly distributed in the slit, but initiators were either anchored to one solid plane (polymer brushes) or randomly distributed (free chains). For brushes, the gel point (GP) depended on GD and [X] 0 /[Ini] 0 . The higher these parameters, the lower was the gel point. The gel point was also affected by the slit width. For free, nongrafted chains, the dependence of GP on slit width was negligible. For brushes, a nonuniform density of crosslinks was found, the highest density was close to the wall. This asymmetry was high at the gel point and decreased at higher conversions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Dual-Responsive Macromolecular Surfaces with Binary Patterns

The development of nanopatterned interfaces incorporating multiple stimuli-responsive polymers has great potential for advancing smart sensors and molecular capture devices, yet it remains challenging due to limitations in patterning techniques and “grafting from” methods. Here, we present a binary-patterned surface featuring honeycomb-shaped photothermal polypyrrole (PPy) and thermally responsive poly(ethylene glycol methyl ether acrylate-co-poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether acrylate) [poly(EGMEA-co-PEGMEA)] brushes within the cavities, fabricated using colloidal lithography and surface-initiated photoinduced electron transfer-reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (SI-PET-RAFT) polymerization. The morphology of the surface can be precisely tuned by adjusting the height of each domain. This design integrates unique topographical features with the stimuli-responsiveness of the polymer, enabling the collapse of the copolymer brushes through direct heating or photothermal conversion of PPy under near-IR light. In conclusion, this innovative system offers potential capture-release functionality, providing versatility for diverse applications and enhancing adaptability across different functional scenarios.

Copolymers↗