The Soft Matter Chemistry group has had a big presence at the 36th Australasian Polymer Symposium (36APS), held at the Mantra Lorne, Victoria, Australia. We had contributions from: Stuart Thickett - 2 talks, one on high glass transition temperature fluoropolymers, the other on the design on inverse poly HIPEs Guo Hui Teo - a poster on polymer-inorganic hybrid nanoparticles by PISA Amin Khodabandeh - a talk on understanding the surface chemistry of RAFT-stabilized polyHIPEs Dr Florent Jasinski - a talk on gradient polymer nanoparticles Stuart also was the theme leader of the Advanced Polymeric Materials and Nanocomposites theme.
We're on the cover of Polymer Chemistry! Congratulations to PhD candidate Chris Teo for the publication of the first article from his degree, "Polymer-Inorganic Hybrid Nanoparticles of Various Morphologies via Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly and Sol-Gel Chemistry." This manuscript documents the simple preparation of nanoparticles of different shapes (spheres, rods, vesicles) formed in-situ via the PISA process. The polymer at the surface of these particles contains a reactive alkoxysilane that enables post-functionalization via condensation of a silica precursor to build unique nanoparticles. Full link here
