Development of Mesoporous Silicas, Responsive Polymer Microgels, and Related Nanocomposites

<p>This dissertation covers research on polymer-templated nanoporous materials and functional soft materials, and it consists of four major parts. The first part is on introduction. The next part (Chapters 2-3) describes the research work on the synthesis of silicas with spherical mesopores. Chapter 2 is focused on the synthesis of large-pore FDU-12 silicas at room temperature by using surfactants with large hydrophilic blocks and relatively small hydrophobic blocks (such as Pluronic F108 (EO132PO50EO132)) as the template. Chapter 3 discusses an interesting mesopore structure, which is the hollow silica nanosphere (HSN). The single-micelle-templating strategy provides a general approach for the synthesis of HSNs at room temperature, and the judicious choice of the framework precursor and synthesis conditions allows for the synthesis of HSNs with pore void diameter tunable from ~ 10 nm to ~ 44 nm. In addition, the one-pot room-temperature synthetic approach can be employed to the construction of hybrid organic/inorganic hollow spheres. </p> <p>The third part involved the preparation of glucose-responsive polymer microgels (Chapter 4-6). In Chapter 4 and 5, two kinds of dye-composited microgel sensors have been developed, and they exhibited good stability, high selectivity, and good reproducibility for detection of glucose. In Chapter 6, a glucose responsive core-shell structured microgel was designed and developed for insulin release at proper physiologically needed glucose levels. </p> <p>The last part of this dissertation (Chapter 7, 8) was about the synthesis of inorganic particle/polymer hybrid materials. In Chapter 7, the stimuli-responsive polymer brushes were successfully grafted from the surface of hollow silica nanospheres via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization with activators regenerated by electron transfer (SI-ARGET ATRP), and the polymer loading was well controlled. Besides, the core-shell-structured nanocomposites were successfully fabricated in Chapter 8. Magnetite nanoparticles were adopted as the core, and the multifunctional polymer layer was coated on their surface. They demonstrated significant adsorption capacity towards cobalt ions, and suitability for magnetic separation, making it an excellent absorbent for waste water treatment. </p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Chemistry

Grantor

The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York

Year dc:date.available

2014

Author dc:creator

• Li, Yingyu

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Michal Kruk
• Shuiqin Zhou

• Chemistry
• FDU-12
• hollow silica spheres
• hybrid material
• mesoporous silica
• micro/nanogel
• nanocomposites

Repository record dc:identifier

https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/65

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:gc_etds-1064