Publications related to Characterization of the Network Structure of PEG Diacrylate Hydrogels Formed in the Presence of N-Vinyl Pyrrolidone

Soft Mechanochemistry of Disulfide-Crosslinked Polymer Networks

Mechanochemistry harnesses mechanical force to facilitate chemical reactions. Traditionally, the field of polymer mechanochemistry has used methods to activate chemical bonds, which use forces that are larger than those that are required to break a covalen ...

EPFL2024

Biobased Composites from Eugenol- and Coumarin-Derived Methacrylic Latex and Hemp Nanocellulose: Cross-Linking via [2+2] Photocycloaddition and Barrier Properties

Yves Leterrier, Sara Dalle Vacche

A novel-biobased latex was synthesized by redox-initiated emulsion copolymerization of ethoxy dihydroeugenyl methacrylate with 5 wt % of a photosensitive methacrylate containing a coumarin group. A stable copolymer latex having 16 wt % solids content and a ...

Amer Chemical Soc2024

Towards an Understanding of Hydraulic Sensitivity: Graph Theory Contributions to Water Distribution Analysis

Jérôme Chenal

Water distribution systems (WDSs) are complex networks with numerous interconnected junctions and pipes. The robustness and reliability of these systems are critically dependent on their network structure, necessitating detailed analysis for proactive leak ...

MDPI2024

Bottlebrush Dielectric Elastomers with Improved Properties for Actuation

Yeerlan Adeli

Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEA) are elastic capacitors composed of a pair of compliant electrodes and a soft dielectric elastomer film sandwiched in between. This kind of stretchable capacitors can be actuated when charged, can generate electricity fr ...

EPFL2023

Supramolecular Modifications of Semicrystalline Polymers

Michael Alan Giffin

Supramolecular interactions play an important role in defining the structure and the resulting mechanical properties of materials. For instance, interchain hydrogen-bonding in PAs gives them superior strength and stiffness in engineering materials, while t ...

EPFL2023

Reinforced Supramolecular Networks of End Functionalized Polymers for Tailored Thermomechanical Property Profiles

Yevhen Hryshunin

Thermoset rubbers give rise to elastomers with tunable stiffness and high resilience but are not recyclable. Thermoplastic elastomers can address this problem but their broad applicability is impeded by either limited operating temperatures or inferior ela ...

EPFL2023

Architecturally Diverse Polymer Brushes Prepared via Surface-Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization

Sabrina Sant

Polymer brushes, which are polymers anchored to a solid substrate by one chainend, have the ability to modify the properties of an underlying substrate, offering intriguing features such as enhanced lubrication, reduced friction, colloidal stability, and a ...

EPFL2023

Supramolecular Polymer Brushes Grown by Surface-Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization from Cucurbit[7]uril-based Non-Covalent Initiators

Harm-Anton Klok, Friederike Katharina Metze, Irene Filipucci

Polymer brushes are densely grafted, chain end-tethered assemblies of polymers that can be produced via surface-initiated polymerization. Typically, this is accomplished using initiators or chain transfer agents that are covalently attached to the substrat ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2023

On-Demand Cross-Linkable Bottlebrush Polymers for Voltage- Driven Artificial Muscles

Frank Nüesch, Francis Owusu, Yeerlan Adeli

Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) generate motion resembling natural muscles in reliability, adaptability, elongation, and frequency of operation. They are highly attractive in implantable soft robots or artificial organs. However, many applications of ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2023

Controlling the Microstructure and Composition of 3D Printed Soft Load-Bearing Hydrogels

Matteo Hirsch

Hydrogels are among the first materials expressly designed for their use in biomedicine. However, state-of-the-art applications of hydrogels are severely limited because they are typically either too soft or too brittle such that they cannot bear significa ...

EPFL2023

Rheological Properties of Ionically Crosslinked Viscoelastic 2D Films vs. Corresponding 3D Bulk Hydrogels

Esther Amstad, Gaia De Angelis

Ionically crosslinked hydrogels containing metal coordination motifs have piqued the interest of researchers in recent decades due to their self-healing and adhesive properties. In particular, catechol-functionalized bulk hydrogels have received a lot of a ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2023

Strategies for energy-efficient frontal polymerisation processing and microstructural evaluation of fibre reinforced composites

Jacobus Gerardus Rudolph Staal

Liquid composite moulding methods are widely applied for manufacturing of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites and consist of two main stages: impregnation of fibrous reinforcements by a liquid monomer resin and curing of this resin. This thesis work ...

EPFL2023

Influence of the molecular weight and physical properties of a thermoplastic polymer on its dynamic wetting behavior

Valentin Rougier

The wetting dynamics of molten thermoplastic polymers, which are known to influence the force balance of the triple line, are not understood properly despite their importance in many industrial processes. In particular, the influence of the molecular weigh ...

Elsevier2023

Supramolecular Polymer Brushes

Friederike Katharina Metze

Thin polymer coatings present a method to modify the surface properties of underlying substrates. Polymer-coated surfaces have been used as anticorrosive materials, surfaces with special wetting properties, antifriction materials, and as materials for biom ...

EPFL2023

Expanding computational biochemistry towards complex and non-natural compounds

Anastasia Sveshnikova

In the beginning was the metabolism. The biochemical processes that make life possible transformed the soup of chemicals into the life on Earth we know today. Since then, living organisms have evolved, and life on Earth has become more complex. Living orga ...

EPFL2023

Enhancement of Pressure-Sensitive Adhesive by CO2 Laser Treatment

Dario Floreano, Jianhang Yang, Jun Shintake, Vivek Ramachandran, Yegor Piskarev, Michael Dickey

Pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs) are polymeric films that can be adhered to and detached from surfaces without leaving residue. Researchers are looking to enhance the bond strength between PSAs and different substrates. It can be achieved by tuning PSA' ...

2022

Mechanical Reinforcement of Hydrogels through Physical Crosslinks and Double Network Granular Architecture

Alvaro Lino Boris Charlet

Throughout nature, organisms fabricate a myriad of materials to sustain their lifestyle. Many of the soft materials are composed of water-swollen networks of organic molecules, so-called hydrogels. They generally contribute to the mechanical integrity of t ...

EPFL2022

Solvent-Free Synthesis and Processing of Conductive Elastomer Composites for Green Dielectric Elastomer Transducers

Frank Nüesch

Stretchable electrodes are more suitable for dielectric elastomer transducers (DET) the closer the mechanical characteristics of the electrodes and elastomer are. Here, a solvent-free synthesis and processing of conductive composites with excellent electri ...

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH2022

Information Retrieval Under Network Uncertainty: Robust Internet Ranking

Ralf Seifert, Anna Timonina-Farkas

Internet ranking algorithms play a crucial role in information technologies and numerical analysis due to their efficiency in high dimensions and wide range of possible applications, including scientometrics and systemic risk in finance (SinkRank, DebtRank ...

2023

Mechanical Activation of Chemical Bonds at Polymer Interfaces

Julian Nicolas Bleich

Polymer brushes are a specific class of polymer thin films in which each chain is tethered to the underlying substrate via one chain end. In sufficiently densely grafted assemblies, the individual polymer chains are forced into an extended chain conformati ...

EPFL2021