MSE 330

Soft Materials

Term Offered: Fall 2004
Text(s): Introduction to Soft Matter: Polymers, Colloids, Amphiphiles and Liquid Crystals by Ian W. Hamley
John Wiley & Sons, ISBN: 0-471-89951-8

and
Soft Condensed Matter by Richard A. L. Jones,
Oxford University Press, ISBN: 0-19-850589-2
Instructor(s): Instructor: Shu Yang, 203 LRSM, shuyang@seas.upenn.edu, 898-9645
Prerequisite(s): Junior standing or permission of instructor, CHEM 102 General Chemistry II
Grading:  
Course Home Page URL:  
Course Description: This course will serve as an introduction of soft condensed matter to students with background in chemistry, physics and materials science. It covers general aspects of chemistry, structures, properties and applications of soft materials (polymers, colloids, liquid crystals, amphiphiles, gels and biomaterials) with emphasis on chemistry and forces related to molecular self-assembly. Topical coverage includes: 1) forces, energies, kinetics in material synthesis, growth and transformation; 2) methods for preparing synthetic materials; 3) formation, assembly, phase behavior, and molecular ordering of synthetic soft materials; 4) structure, function, and phase transition of natural materials (nucleic acids, proteins, polysaccharides and lipids); 5) techniques to characterize structure, phase and dynamics of soft materials 6) application of soft materials in nanotechnology. Examples illustrate technologically relevant materials in current nanoscience, nanotechnology, and nano-biotechnology, such as block copolymers thin films, colloidal photonic crystals, micelles, vesicles, hydro-gels, photosensitive materials, and materials in soft lithography.
Course Outline:
1. Introduction (1 week)
1.1. Overview: What is soft condensed matter? (lecture 1)
1.2. Forces, energies, and time scales in soft condensed matter. (lecture 1)
(Intra- and intermolecular interactions, structural organization, phase transition, order parameters, scaling laws…)
1.3. Experimental techniques to investigate soft matter (lecture 2)
1.4. Applications of soft matter in nanotechnology (lecture 3)

2. Materials chemistry in general (1 week)
2.1. Materials chemistry and stereochemistry of polymers, liquid crystals, colloids, gels (lectures 4 &5)
2.2. Chemistry of biomaterials (lecture 6)

3. Polymers (3 weeks)
3.1. Polymer architecture and stereochemistry (lecture 7)
3.2. Synthesis (lectures 8 and 9)
3.3. Copolymers and polymer blends (lectures 10-12)
2.3.1. Polydispersity (lecture 10)
2.3.2. Phase separation and segregation (lecture 10)
2.3.3. Thin film vs. bulk properties (lecture 11)
3.4. Polymer surface (lecture 12)
3.5. Polymer solution (lecture 13)
3.6. Crystalline polymers (lecture 14)
3.7. Characterization techniques (lecture 15)

4. Gelation (1.5 weeks)
4.1. Classes of gels: physical gels, chemical gels (introduce sol-gel) (lecture 16)
4.2. Theory of Gelation (lecture 17)
4.3. Hydrogels (lecture 18-19)
4.3.1. Types of hydrogels (lecture 18)
4.3.2. Application of hydrogels (lecture 18)
4.3.3. Formation of hydrogels (lecture 19)
4.3.4. Processing of hydrogels (lecture 19)

5. Colloids (2 weeks)
5.1. Types of colloids and their formation (lecture 20)
5.2. Forces between colloidal particles (lecture 20)
5.3. Assembly and phase behavior
5.3.1. Charges and stabilization (lecture 21)
5.3.2. Kinetics (lecture 22)
5.3.3. Defects in assembly (lecture 23)
5.3.4. Approaches to control long range order (lecture 23)
5.4. Characterization (lecture 24)
5.5. Applications of colloids, especially in photonics and optoelectronics (lecture 25)

5. Amphiphiles (~2 weeks)
6.1. Types of amphiphiles (lecture 26)
6.2. Self-assembled phases in solution
6.2.1 Phase separation and aggregation of amphiphilic molecules (lecture 27)
6.2.2 Micellization and critical micelle concentration (CMC) (lecture 28)
6.2.3 Bilayers and vesicles (lecture 29)
6.2.4 Phase behavior in concentrated solutions (lecture 30)
6.2.5 Complex phases in surfactant solutions and microemulsions (lecture 31)
6.3. Adsorption at solid interface (lecture 32)

7. Soft Matter in Nature (~2 weeks)
7.1. Nucleic acids (lecture 33)
7.2. Proteins (lecture 34)
7.3. Polysaccharides (lecture 35)
7.4. Membranes (lectures 36-37)

8. Nanotechnology and soft materials (1.5 weeks)
8.1. Photoresists in microlithography (lecture 38)
8.2. Nanolithography using block copolymer templates (lecture 39)
8.3. Directed colloidal assembly (lecture 40)
8.4. Soft lithography by PDMS and self-assembled monolayers
8.4.1 Chemistry and process (lecture 41)
8.4.2 Micropatterning in microfluidics (lecture 42)
8.4.3 Applications in biotechnology (lecture 42)

Total: 14 weeks, 3 times a week
 


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