This thesis focuses on my endeavors to prepare new porous polymeric monoliths that are viable to use as supports in flow-through processes. Polymer monoliths of various porous properties and different chemical properties have been prepared utilizing the thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) phenomenon and step-growth polymerization reactions. The aim has been to find appropriate synthesis routes to produce separation supports with fully controlled chemical, physical and surface properties. This thesis includes preparation of porous monolithic materials from several non-cross-linked commodity polymers and engineering plastics by dissolution/precipitation process (i.e. TIPS). Elevated temperatures, above the upper critical solution temperature (UCST), were used to dissolve the polymers in appropriate solvents that only dissolve the polymers above this critical temperature. After dissolution, the homogeneous and clear polymer-solvent solution is thermally quenched by cooling. A porous material, of three dimensional structure, is then obtained as the temperature crosses the UCST. More than 20 organic solvents were tested to find the most compatible one that can dissolve the polymer above the UCST and precipitate it back when the temperature is lowered. The effect of using a mixture of two solvents or additives (co-porogenic polymer or surfactant) in the polymer dissolution/precipitation process have been studied more in depth for poly(vinylidine difluoride) (PVDF) polymers of two different molecular weight grades. Monolithic materials showing different pore characteristics could be obtained by varying the composition of the PVDF-solvent mixture during the dissolute­ion/precipitation process. Step-growth polymerization (often called polycondensat­ion reaction) combined with sol-gel process with the aid of porogenic polymer and block copolymer surfactant have also been used as a new route of synthesis for production of porous melamine-formaldehyde (MF) monoliths. In general, the meso- and macro-porous support materials, for which the synthesis/preparation is discussed in this thesis, are useful to a wide variety of applications in separation science and heterogeneous reactions (catalysis).

In this PhD research the liquid-liquid phase separation phenomena in Gd-based alloys was investigated in terms of phase equilibria, microstructure formation upon quenching the melt and corresponding magnetic properties of phase-separated metallic glasses. The phase diagrams of the binary subsystems Gd-Zr and Gd-Ti were experimentally reassessed. Especially the phase equilibria with the liquid phase could be determined directly by combining in situ high energy synchrotron X-ray diffraction with electrostatic levitation of the melt. The Gd-Zr system is of eutectic type with a metastable miscibility gap. The eutectic composition at 18 ± 2 at.% Zr, the liquidus line and the coexistence of bcc-Zr and bcc-Gd at elevated temperature could be determined. The Gd-Ti system is a monotectic system. The experimental observations in this work led to improved new Gd-Zr and Gd-Ti phase diagrams. The phase equilibria of the ternary Gd-Ti-Co system were analyzed for two alloy compositions. The XRD patterns for molten Gd35Ti35Co30 gave direct evidence for the coexistence of two liquid phases formed by liquid-liquid phase separation. The first experimental and thermodynamic assessment of the ternary Gd–Ti–Co system revealed that the stable miscibility gap of binary Gd–Ti extends into the ternary Gd–Ti–Co system (up to about 30 at.% Co). New phase-separated metallic glasses were synthesized in Gd-TM-Co-Al (TM = Hf, Ti or Zr) alloys. The microstructure was characterized in terms of composition and cooling rate dependence of phase separation. Due to large positive enthalpy of mixing between Gd on the one side and Hf, Ti or Zr on the other side, the alloys undergo liquid-liquid phase separation during rapid quenching the melt. The parameters determining the microstructure development during phase separation are the thermodynamic properties of the liquid phase, kinetic parameters and quenching conditions. By controlling these parameters and conditions the microstructure can be tailored both at microscopic and macroscopic length scales. This includes either droplet-like or interconnected microstructures at the microscopic level and glass-glass or glass-crystalline composites at the macroscopic level. Essential parameter for the quenched in microstructure is the temperature dependence of liquid-liquid phase separation, which is determined by the chemical composition of the alloy: on the one hand, earlier and/or later stages of spinodal decomposition or almost homogeneous glassy states are obtained if the critical temperature of miscibility gap Tc is close to the glass transition temperature Tg; and on the one hand, coarsening and secondary precipitations of the liquids are obtained if Tc is much higher than Tg. Finally, the influence of the microstructure developed by phase separation on their magnetic properties had been investigated. The saturation magnetization σS depends on the overall amount of Gd atoms in the alloys and is not remarkably affected by phase separation processes. The Curie temperature TCurie of the magnetic transition is influenced by the changed chemical composition of the Gd-rich glassy phases compared to that of monolithic Gd-Co-Al glasses. / In dieser Doktorarbeit wurde die flüssig-flüssig Phasenentmischung von Gd-basierten Legierungen hinsichtlich der Phasengleichgewichte, der Gefügeentwicklung während der Schmelzabschreckung und dazugehöriger magnetischer Eigenschaften, untersucht. Die Zustandsdiagramme der binären Untersysteme Gd-Zr undGd-Ti wurden experimentell ermittelt.. Insbesondere konnten die Phasengleichgewichte mit der flüssigen Phase mittels in-situ Röntgenbeugungsmessunngen an elektrostatisch levitierten Schmelzen direkt, bestimmt werden. Das Gd-Zr System stellt ein ein eutektisches Phasendiagram dar und besitzt eine metastabile Mischungslücke. Die eutektische Zusammensetzung wurde mit 18 ± 2 at.%Zr bestimmt und der Verlauf der Liquiduslinie bei erhöhten Temperaturen wurde experimentell ermittelt. Experimentell wurde die Koexistenz von kubisch-raumzentrierten Zr und Gd in einem Bereich bei hohen Temperaturen nachgewiesen. Das Gd-Ti-System ist von monotektischer Art. Die experimentellen Beobachtungen dieser Arbeit trugen wesentlich zur Verbesserung der Beschreibung der Phasendiagaramme Gd-Zr- und Gd-Ti-Phasenbei. Die Phasengleichgewichte des ternären Gd-Ti-Co-Systems wurde anhand zweier Legierungszusammensetzungen untersucht. Die Röntgenbeugungsdiffraktogramme der geschmolzenen Legiereung Gd35Ti35Co30 sind ein direkter Beleg für die Koexistenz zweier flüssiger Phasen, aufgrund der flüssig-flüssig Phasenentmischung. Die erste experimentelle und thermodynamische Auswertung des ternären Gd-Ti-Co-Systems zeigt, dass sich die stabile Mischungslücke des binären Gd-Ti-Systems ins ternäre Gd-Ti-Co-System bis zu ungefähr 30 at.% Co erstreckt. Es wurden neue Gd-TM-Co-Al (TM = Hf, Ti oder Zr)-basierte metallische Gläser, die separierte Phasen besitzen, hergestellt. Ihr Gefüge wurden hinsichtlich Zusammensetzung- und Abkühlratenabhängigkeit der Phasenentmischung charakterisiert. Aufgrund der großen positiven Mischungsenthalpie zwischen Gd auf der einen und Hf, Ti oder Zr auf der anderen Seite, weisen diese Legierungen eine flüssig-flüssig Phasenentmischung während der Abschreckung aus der Schmelze auf. Die Einflussgrößen, die die Gefügeentwicklung während der Phasenentmischung bestimmen, sind die thermodynamischen Eigenschaften der flüssigen Phase, die kinetische Parameter und die Abschreckbedingungen. Indem diese Parameter und Bedingungen kontrolliert werden, kann das Gefüge auf makro- sowie mikroskopischer Längenskala maßgeschneidert werden. Dies beinhaltet entweder tropfenförmige oder miteinander verbundene Gefüge auf einer mikroskopischen Skala und Glas-Glas oder Glas-Kristall Komposite auf einer makroskopischen Längenskala. Ein wesentlicher Parameter für das abgeschreckte Gefüge ist die Temperatur-Abhängigkeit der flüssig-flüssig Phasenentmischung, die durch die chemische Zusammensetzung der Legierung bestimmt wird. Frühere und/oder spätere Stadien der spinodalen Entmischung oder nahezu homogene amorphe Zustände können abhängig von dem Temperaturunterschied zwischen kritischer Temperatur der flüssig-flüssig Phasenentmischung und der Glasübergangstemperatur erhalten werden. Wenn die kritische Temperatur der Mischungslücke, Tc, viel höher ist als die des Glasübergangs, Tg, können makroskopische Vergröberungen der tropfenförmigen Verteilung der flüssigen Phase und sekundäre flüssige oder kristalline Ausscheidungen in den gebildeten amorphen Phasen erhalten werden. Durch die Phasenentmischung und die erhaltenen heterogenen Gefüge werden die magnetischen Eigenschaften beeinflusst.. Die Sättigungsmagnetisierung,σS, hängt von der gesamten Anzahl der Gd-Atome der Legierung ab und wird nicht bemerkenswert vom Phasenentmischungsprozess beeinflusst. Die Curie Temperatur TCurie wird im Vergleich zu monolithischen Gd-Co-Al Gläsern, und abhängig von der chemischen Zusammensetzung der Gd-reichen Phase, verändert.

In this thesis morphologies, coarsening mechanisms and kinetics are examined in a systematic way, when phase separation and subsequent microstructural coarsening is modelled using deterministic mean field and stochastic Monte Carlo methods. For the mean field approach a microscopic diffusion equation due to Khachaturyan is employed, and a variation of it with an environment dependent mobility. Monte Carlo simulations are carried out with vacancy and Kawasaki dynamics, and a residence time algorithm is applied in the vacancy case. In mean field models microstructural evolution results from a direct minimization of a free energy functional, and the mechanism of atomic diffusion does not appear explicitly. In Monte Carlo models, changes in site occupancies are effected by direct exchanges of neighbouring atoms (Kawasaki dynamics), or through vacancy motion. In this thesis the correspondence between mean field and Monte Carlo models in describing phase transformations in binary alloys is examined. Several examples of cases in which these differences between deterministic and stochastic models affect the phase transformation are given, and the underlying differences are analyzed. It is also investigated how the choice of diffusion mechanism in the Monte Carlo model affects the microstructural evolution. Most Monte Carlo studies have been carried out with Kawasaki dynamics, although in real metals such direct exchanges are very unlikely to occur. It will be shown how the vacancy diffusion mechanism produces a variety of coarsening mechanisms over a range of temperatures, which the Kawasaki dynamics fails to capture. Consequently, kinetics and resulting morphologies, especially at low temperatures, are affected. Finally, the question of physicality of time scales in mean field and Monte Carlo models is addressed. Often a linear dependence between Monte Carlo time and real physical time is assumed, although there is no rigorous justifcation for this. In mean field models, time is defined through the atomic mobility. By examining the effect of a realistic diffusion mechanism in systems undergoing phase transformation, a critical discussion of time scales in microscopic mean field models and a Monte Carlo model with Kawasaki dynamics is presented.

The saturation of the near surface layers of metals with different elements is a powerful tool to change their surface properties. In this work, structure and transport changes induced by incorporation of large amounts of nitrogen at moderate temperatures (∼370−430°C) in austenitic stainless steel are investigated. The structural study of the plasma nitrided ASS has been carried out using a combination of global (X-ray diffraction, nuclear reaction analysis) and local probe techniques (Mossbauer, X-ray absorption near edge structure, extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopies). It reveals that nitriding at moderate temperatures (∼400°C) results in the nitrided layer with Fe, Cr and Ni being in different local chemical environments: Cr in the CrN-like state, Fe in the Fe4N-like state, Ni in the metallic state. The results demonstrate that the incorporation of interstitial nitrogen destabilizes homogeneous distribution of the ASS constituents, which leads to the segregation of the elements into small zones rich in Cr and Ni and provide strong evidence that the decomposition is of a spinodal nature. These experimental findings contradict the widely accepted view that the phase formed during nitriding at moderate temperatures is a homogeneous supersaturated nitrogen solid solution. The nitrogen atomic transport study has been carried out by using ion beam nitriding of single-crystalline stainless steel, and the issues of the influence of the crystalline orientation, nitriding temperature, ion flux and ion energy are addressed. The diffusion coefficients have been extracted from the fitting of the nitrogen depth profiles by using the trapping-detrapping model. It is shown that the crystalline orientation plays a significant role in nitrogen diffusion: the penetration depth is largest, intermediate and lowest for the (001), (110) and (111) orientation, respectively. The pre-exponential factor D0 varies by two orders of magnitude depending on the orientation, while the activation energy E is similar (∼1.1 eV) for the (111) and (110) orientations and higher for the (001) orientation (∼1.4 eV). It is found that the nitrogen ion energy and the flux have the effect on the nitrogen transport in the bulk with higher energies (or fluxes) showing larger diffusion coefficients. The ion energy effect is more pronounced for the (001) than for the (111) orientation, while the flux effect is similar in both orientations. In addition, the diffusivity during post-nitriding thermal annealing without ion irradiation is found to be independent of the crystalline orientation. The observed radiation enhanced diffusion and anisotropy are discussed on the basis of nitrogen incorporation induced changes in the matrix structure (ASS decomposition and formation heterogeneous structure), ion bombardment induced effects (defects, localized vibrations) and correlated diffusion.

Title: The Study of Dynamic Behaviour and Interactions During the Tempera- ture-Induced Phase Separation in Polymer Solutions Author: Hana Kouřilová Department / Institute: Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Mathemat- ics and Physics, Department of Macromolecular Physics Supervisor of the doctoral thesis: doc. RNDr. Lenka Hanyková, Dr. Abstract: 1 H and 13 C high-resolution NMR spectroscopies were used for the phase separation investigation in three types of polymer solutions: i) poly(N -isopropylmethacrylamide)/D2O/ethanol with or without negatively charged comonomer sodium methacrylate, ii) random copolymers poly(N -isopro- pylmethacrylamide-co-acrylamide) in D2O, D2O/ethanol and D2O/acetone and iii) D2O solutions of polymer mixtures poly(N -isopropylmethacrylamide)/poly(N - vinylcaprolactam). For i) cononsolvency effect and influence of temperature on the phase separation was studied. Differences between mesoglobules formed as a consequence of cononsolvency effect and of temperature were found. While inside the cononsolvency-induced mesoglobules no bound ethanol molecules were detect- ed, in the mesoglobules formed by the effect of temperature ethanol molecules were present. The charge introduced into the polymer chains strenghtens polymer- solvent interactions. For ii) mesoglobules were found to be...

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / In this thesis, regioregularpoly( 3-hexylthiophene) (rr-P3HT) polymer was used as a light absorption and electron donating material, while the C60 fullerene and its derivative [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) were used as electron acceptor materials. The effect of solvent to control the degree of mixing of the polymer and fullerene components, as well as the domain size and charge transport properties of the blends were investigated in detail using P3HT:C60 films. The photo-physical, structural and electrical transport properties of the polymer blends were carried out according to their ratios. A distinctive photoluminescence (PL) quenching effect was observed indicating a photo-induced electron transfer. In this thesis, the effect of solvents on the crystallization and interchain interaction of P3HT and C60 fullerene films were studied using XRD, UV-vis, PL, Raman and FTIR spectroscopy. The polymer blends formed with non-aromatic solvents exhibited an improved crystallinity and polymer morphology than that formed with aromatic solvents. An improved ordering was demonstrated in the polymer films spin coated from non-aromatic solvents. This indicates that the limited solubility of rr P3HT in a marginal solvent such as non-aromatic solvents can offer a strategy to obtain highly ordered crystal structures and lead directly to optimal morphologies on the films. / South Africa

Este trabalho contempla um estudo sistemático das propriedades elétricas de óxidos cerâmicos a base de manganês. Ênfase foi dada a sistemas onde uma correlação forte entre os graus de liberdade de carga, spin e rede com ordenamento orbital resultam em um estado fundamental heterogêneo, devido a uma separação de fases. Com esse objetivo, foram preparadas amostras policristalinas e monocristalinas de Nd0.5Ca0.5Mn1-xCrxO3, 0.0 x 0.07. A caracterização destas amostras, via medidas de transporte elétrico (T) e de susceptibilidade magnética (T), revelou a ocorrência de uma temperatura de ordenamento de carga CO em TCO 250 K e que uma substituição pequena de Mn por Cr resulta na supressão desse estado CO, induzindo uma transição de fase do tipo metal-isolante (MI) no sistema. Concomitantemente a esta transição MI observa-se uma transição de fase do estado paramagnético PA isolante para um estado ferromagnético FM metálico em TMI ~ TC ~ 140 K. A análise combinada dos resultados experimentais de resistividade elétrica (T,H), magnetização (T) e de espectroscopia de impedância Z(,T) revelaram uma coexistência e competição entre fases na determinação do estado fundamental dessas manganitas. Tal competição foi observada ocorrer em uma larga faixa de temperatura, ou seja, abaixo da temperatura TCO 250 K até a mais baixa temperatura estudada de 1.4 K. Os dados também permitiram concluir que a natureza do estado fundamental desses materiais compreende de uma mistura de fases isolantes entre as temperaturas TCO 250 K e TMI ~ TC ~ 140 K. Por outro lado, e abaixo de TMI, o estado fundamental do sistema pode ser visualizado como sendo composto de uma fina mistura de duas fases: uma com ordenamento de carga e orbital (CO/OO) e de caráter isolante e uma outra ordenada ferromagneticamente FM e com características metálicas. A natureza deste estado fundamental heterogêneo foi confirmada através de medidas de relaxação da resistência elétrica (T,t) obtidas nas duas regiões de temperatura acima citadas. Os dados de (T,t) ainda permitiram concluir que o estado fundamental desses materiais além de heterogêneo é dinâmico, como esperado em um cenário de separação de fases. Uma outra característica desse estado heterogêneo, notadamente abaixo de TMI, é que o mesmo responde de forma não convencional a estímulos diversos, incluindo grandes excitações de corrente elétrica aplicada I. Nesse contexto, a natureza heterogênea do estado CO para T < TCO, bem como da coexistência de fases CO e FM em T < TMI foi provada via um estudo sistemático das propriedades de transporte e magnetização usando diferentes intensidades de corrente elétrica aplicada em medidas de (T,I), M(T,I) e através de curvas características V-I. A observação de fenômenos não lineares, principalmente em curvas características V-I, indicou que os mesmos são precursores de transições de fase abruptas, quando altas densidades de corrente são aplicadas nos materiais. Os dados também permitiram concluir que a corrente elétrica não é distribuída homogeneamente neste estado fundamental heterogêneo. Isto implica em uma localização de corrente e conseqüente efeito Joule dentro do material. A dissipação devido ao efeito Joule é responsável por um auto-aquecimento do material e pode ser suficiente para induzir transições de fase devido ao aumento de temperatura da amostra. A aplicação de um modelo simples de dissipação de calor aplicado aos dados experimentais indicam que o fenômeno de localização de corrente e efeito Joule são fundamentais para o entendimento de transições de fase induzidas por corrente elétrica nessas manganitas. / A systematic study of the electrical properties in doped manganese oxides is presented. Special attention was given to compositions where the strong correlation between charge, spin, and lattice degrees of freedom with orbital ordering resulting in a heterogeneous ground state leads to phase separation. To do this work, polycrystalline and monocrystalline Nd0,5Ca0,5Mn1-xCrxO3, 0,0 x 0,07 samples were prepared. The results obtained through electrical transport (T) and, magnetic susceptibility (T) have revealed the occurrence of charge ordering at TCO 250 K. A small partial substitution of Mn by Cr results in a suppression of the long range charge ordering state and induces both a magnetic from paramagnetic PA to ferromagnetic FM and a electronic from insulating to metallic phase transition at TMI ~ TC ~ 140 K. A combined analysis of the experimental results performed through (T,H), (T), and impedance spectroscopy Z(,T) revealed the coexistence of competing phases in the ground state of these manganites. Such a competition has been found in a large temperature range, from TCO 250 down to 1,4 K. In addition, it is suggested that the ground state comprises a delicate mixture of insulating phases between TCO 250 K e TMI ~ TC ~ 140 K. On the other hand, below TMI, the ground state can be visualized as comprised of two phases: (1) insulating charge orbital ordering (CO/OO) and (2) ferromagnetic metallic phases. The nature of this heterogeneous ground state was confirmed through relaxation measurements (T,t) performed in both temperature intervals cited above. The data indicated that besides to be heterogeneous this ground state is dynamical, as expected in the phase separation scenario. Moreover, this ground state responds in an unconventional fashion when the system is stimulated by electrical current, notably below TMI. Within this context, the heterogeneous nature of the CO state for T < TCO, and the coexistence of CO and FM phases for T < TMI, were studied through magnetic and electrical measurements using electrical current of different magnitude (T,I), M(T,I) and characteristic V-I curves. The non-linear phenomena are precursors of the very sharp transition when high electrical current density is applied. The data also allows to conclude that the electrical current is not homogeneously distributed throughout the sample in this ground state. Differently, the electrical current is localized in thin channels bringing about a large self-heating Joule effect. We argue that the dissipation due to Joule effect is responsible for the self-heating which in turn is large enough to induce phase transition due to the temperature raise. The application of a simple heat dissipation model to the experimental data reveals that both the electrical current localization phenomenon and the Joule effect are very important to the understanding of the current-induced phase transition in these manganites.

Many proteins are unstable in solution and must be formulated in the solid state. This has led to an increase in the use of lyophilized dosage forms. Lyophilization is a complicated processing method consisting of three major steps: freezing, primary drying, and secondary drying. This can lead to several formulation stability challenges including changes in ionization within the matrix, phase separation of the protein drug from added stabilizers, sufficient mobility within the system for movement of reactive species and protein side chains, and crystallization of excipients upon storage. Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (SSNMR) is used to characterize many important properties of lyophilized formulations including crystalline vs. amorphous content, polymorphic form, ionization profile, interaction between formulation components with domain sizes, and mobility within the cake matrix. In order to study ionization changes in lyophilized solids, SSNMR and UV/Vis Diffuse Reflectance spectroscopy were used. 13C-labeled fumaric, succinic, and butyric acids were added to formulations at various pH levels, and were used to quantify change in the ionization of the matrix by monitoring the ionization ratios of the carboxylic acid peaks using SSNMR. pH indicators were also added to the formulations and their ionization ratio was determined using UV/Visible Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy. The ionization profile in the solid state was compared with that in solution before lyophilization. A rank ordering of ionization shift was made in pharmaceutically relevant buffers. SSNMR proton relaxation times (1H T1 and 1H T1rho) for each formulation component can be compared to determine homogeneity within the lyophilized matrix. The concept of spin diffusion is used in order to determine the length scale on which the components are either homogeneous or phase separated. The domain size is typically 20-50 nm or 2-10 nm for 1H T1 and 1H T1rho, respectively. PVP and dextran polymers were phase separated on both domains for physical mixtures and lyophilized mixtures. BSA and lysozyme were both lyophilized with formulations containing sucrose, trehalose, or mannitol as the stabilizer. Mannitol crystallized, and the relaxation times showed phase separation. Sucrose and trehalose both formed homogeneous systems at both length scales when formulated in a 1:1 ratio with BSA or lysozyme. Aspartame was shown to be phase separated from trehalose. The SSNMR proton relaxation times were also used to measure the local mobility in the lyophilized matrix, as a timescale of picoseconds to nanoseconds is associated with the 1H T1 relaxation time. Mobility was monitored in formulations containing a fixed amount of sucrose and mannitol, but with a variable amount of an IgG2 protein. The 1H T1 relaxation times decreased as protein content increased. The formulations with the highest relaxation time (lowest mobility), was the most stable in accelerated temperature conditions as monitored by size exclusion chromatography and capillary isoelectric focusing. This method can be used to rank order the most stable formulations at time-zero. Anti-plasticization was also studied by formulating sorbitol in various ratios with trehalose. The 1H T1 relaxation times increased with increasing sorbitol content, while the glass transition temperature decreased. Sorbitol and trehalose glasses were also exposed to different temperature storage conditions. Sorbitol appears to promote aging, as the formulations with higher sorbitol content showed larger increases in proton relaxation time.

The saturation of the near surface layers of metals with different elements is a powerful tool to change their surface properties. In this work, structure and transport changes induced by incorporation of large amounts of nitrogen at moderate temperatures (∼370−430°C) in austenitic stainless steel are investigated. The structural study of the plasma nitrided ASS has been carried out using a combination of global (X-ray diffraction, nuclear reaction analysis) and local probe techniques (Mossbauer, X-ray absorption near edge structure, extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopies). It reveals that nitriding at moderate temperatures (∼400°C) results in the nitrided layer with Fe, Cr and Ni being in different local chemical environments: Cr in the CrN-like state, Fe in the Fe4N-like state, Ni in the metallic state. The results demonstrate that the incorporation of interstitial nitrogen destabilizes homogeneous distribution of the ASS constituents, which leads to the segregation of the elements into small zones rich in Cr and Ni and provide strong evidence that the decomposition is of a spinodal nature. These experimental findings contradict the widely accepted view that the phase formed during nitriding at moderate temperatures is a homogeneous supersaturated nitrogen solid solution. The nitrogen atomic transport study has been carried out by using ion beam nitriding of single-crystalline stainless steel, and the issues of the influence of the crystalline orientation, nitriding temperature, ion flux and ion energy are addressed. The diffusion coefficients have been extracted from the fitting of the nitrogen depth profiles by using the trapping-detrapping model. It is shown that the crystalline orientation plays a significant role in nitrogen diffusion: the penetration depth is largest, intermediate and lowest for the (001), (110) and (111) orientation, respectively. The pre-exponential factor D0 varies by two orders of magnitude depending on the orientation, while the activation energy E is similar (∼1.1 eV) for the (111) and (110) orientations and higher for the (001) orientation (∼1.4 eV). It is found that the nitrogen ion energy and the flux have the effect on the nitrogen transport in the bulk with higher energies (or fluxes) showing larger diffusion coefficients. The ion energy effect is more pronounced for the (001) than for the (111) orientation, while the flux effect is similar in both orientations. In addition, the diffusivity during post-nitriding thermal annealing without ion irradiation is found to be independent of the crystalline orientation. The observed radiation enhanced diffusion and anisotropy are discussed on the basis of nitrogen incorporation induced changes in the matrix structure (ASS decomposition and formation heterogeneous structure), ion bombardment induced effects (defects, localized vibrations) and correlated diffusion.

Cononsolvency occurs if a mixture of two good solvents causes the collapse or demixing of polymers into a polymer-rich phase in a certain range of compositions of these two solvents. The better solvent is usually called cosolvent and another common solvent is called solvent. So far, the phase-transition mechanism behind cononsolvency is still rather controversially debated in literature. In this thesis, I experimentally investigated the cononsolvency effect of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNiPAAm) brushes with different grafting density in aqueous alcohol mixtures. I have used Vis-spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements and proved the hypothesis that the cononsolvency transition of PNiPAAm brushes consists of a volume phase-like equilibrium transition. I found a strong collapse transition in PNiPAAm brushes followed by a reentry behavior as observed by ellipsometry measurements. Using a series of alcohols with increasing alkyl-chain length I have demonstrated that the cononsolvency effect is enhanced and shifted to smaller volume fractions of the alcohol. Particularly for the alcohol with increasing hydrophobic property this is correlated with an increasing tendency of demixing between the cosolvent and water. This is apparently in contrast to the hypothesis of strongly associative solvents being the origin of the cononsolvency effect. The hypothesis of preferential adsorption, on the other hand, can account for this case by assuming an increasing hydrophobically driven adsorption of the cosolvent on the polymer chains. The recently proposed adsorption-attraction model based on the concept of preferential adsorption, can be used to predict the corresponding phase-transition behavior. In particularly the model predictions for variation of the grafting density is in agreement with the experimental findings. However, to reflect the imperfect mixing of the longer alcohols in water as well as finite miscibility of the polymers in the common solvent, extensions of the model have to be considered. I have shown that the simplest extension of the model taking into account the Flory-Huggins parameter for polymer and water can account for the qualitative changes observed for temperature changes in my experiments. Both a theoretical analysis and experimental observations show that the phase-transition mechanism of cononsolvency depends on the relative strengths of various interactions in the polymer solutions. A cononsolvency transition can be driven by a strong cosolvent-solvent attraction or by the preferential adsorption of cosolvent onto the polymer. By an extension of the adsorption-attraction model, I report on a comprehensive and quantitative theoretical study of the cononsolvency effect of neutral polymers such as PNiPAAm brushes, macro-gels and single long chains. The extended adsorption-attraction model is able to describe and predict the phase-transition behaviors of these systems in various aqueous alcohol solutions quantitatively. My analysis showed that besides the dominant role of polymer-cosolvent preferential adsorption and the monomer-cosolvent-monomer triple contacts (cosolvent-assisted temporary cross-linking effect) that define the strength of the collapse-transition in the cosolvent-poor region, other effects are shown to be of relevance: The non-ideal mixing between polymer and solvent plays a role in shifting the collapse transition to the lower-concentration region of cosolvent, and an increase of the demixing tendency between cosolvent and solvent on the polymer chains reduces the window width of the cononsolvency transition. Using data from my own experiments and literature I can show that the cononsolvency response of brushes, gels and single long polymer chain can be consistently described with the same model. The model parameters are consistent with their microscopic interpretation. In addition, weakening of the cononsolvency transition in cosolvent-poor aqueous solutions at high hydrostatic pressure can be explained by the suppression of demixing tendency between cosolvent and water, and between polymer and water in the case of PNiPAAm. An investigation of the grafting-density effect in the cononsolvency transition of grafted PNiPAAm polymer, showed that a decrease of grafting density at the collapse state as well as the temperature is fixed, the swollen polymer chains can show various morphologies not limited to collapse brush. In addition, my experimental results clearly showed that the strongest collapse state can be only realized by polymer brushes with moderate grafting densities. My results display the universal character of the cononsolvency effect with respect to series of cosolvents and show that PNiPAAm brushes display a well-defined and sharp collapse transition. This is most pronounced for 1-propanol as cosolvent which is still fully miscible in water. Potential applications are switches built from implementation of brushes in pores and similar concave geometries can be realized by harnessing the cononsolvency effect of stimuli-responsive polymers such as PNiPAAm. As an example of application of cononsolvency effect of grafted polymers, different molecular-weight PNiPAAm polymers are grafted around the rim of solid-state nanopores by using grafting-to method. I demonstrate that small amounts of ethanol admixed to an aqueous solution can trigger the translocation of fluorescence DNA through polymer-decorated nanopores. I can identify the cononsolvency effect as being responsible for this observation which causes an abrupt collapse of the brush by increasing the alcohol content of the aqueous solution followed by a reswelling at higher alcohol concentration. For the first time, I provide a quantitative method to estimate hydrodynamic thickness of a polymer layer which is grafted around the rim of nanopores. Regardless of the grafting density of a grafted PNiPAAm polymer layer around the rim of nanopores, in the alcohol-tris buffer mixtures, the polymer layer displays solvent-composition responsive behaviors in the range of metabolic pH values and room temperatures. Although in this study PNiPAAm was chosen as a model synthetic polymer, I believe in that the conclusions made for PNiPAAm can be also in general extended to other synthetic polymers as well as to biopolymers such as proteins. As a proof of concept of using synthetic polymers to mimic biological functions of cell-membrane channels, my study clearly transpired that cononsolvency effect of polymers can be used as a trigger to change the size of nanopores in analogy to the opening and closure of the gates of cell-membrane channels.:Chapter 1 Background and motivation 4 1.1 Liquid-liquid phase separation 4 1.2 Polymer phase separation in a pure solvent 5 1.3 Polymer phase separation in mixtures of two good solvents 10 1.4 Characterizing cononsolvency transition in experimental study 14 1.5 Research motivation 16 Chapter 2 Phase behaviors of PNiPAAm brushes in alcohol/water mixtures: A combined experimental and theoretical study 17 2.1 Introduction 17 2.2 Materials and Methods 17 2.2.1 Materials 17 2.2.2 Preparation of Polymer Brushes 18 2.2.3 VIS-Spectroscopic Ellipsometry Measurement 18 2.2.4 Determining a polymer brush’s overlap grafting density 19 2.2.5 Test of PNiPAAm solubility in short-chain polyols 20 2.3 The adsorption-attraction model 20 2.4 Equilibrium behavior of cononsolvency transition of PNiPAAm brushes 22 2.5 Role of volume of solvent molecules in the swelling of PNiPAAm brushes 24 2.6 Cononsolvency transition of PNiPAAm brushes in aqueous solutions of a series of alcohol 24 2.7 Isomer effect of alcohol in the cononsolvency transition of PNiPAAm brushes 27 2.8 Role of alcohol-water interaction in the cononsolvency transition of PNiPAAm polymers 28 2.9 Temperature effect in the cononsolvency transition of PNiPAAm brushes 30 2.10 Grafting-density effect in the cononsolvency transition of PNiPAAm brushes 33 2.11 Octopus-shape-micelle morphology of grafted PNiPAAm polymers 34 2.12 Chapter summary 35 2.13 Chapter appendix 37 2.13.1 Data extraction and reprocessing for the molar Gibbs free energy of mixing 37 2.13.2 Temperature effect in the cononsolvency transition of PNiPAAm gels 37 Chapter 3 The extended adsorption-attraction model 41 3.1 Introduction 41 3.2 An extension of the adsorption-attraction model 43 3.3 Numerical solution of the extended adsorption-attraction model 47 3.4 Validation of the extended adsorption-attraction model 50 3.4.1 Cononsolvency transition of polymer brushes and macro-gels in different alcohol-water mixtures 51 3.4.2 An analysis of the enthalpic interaction between cosolvent and solvent 57 3.4.3 The window width of the cononsolvency transition 60 3.4.4 Pressure effect in the cononsolvency transition of PNiPAAm polymers 61 3.4.5 Cononsolvency transition of a single long polymer 65 3.5 Chapter summary 66 3.6 Chapter appendix 67 3.6.1 Chemical potential change of mixing two components 67 3.6.2 The Enthalpic Wilson model 68 3.6.3 Estimation of effective Flory-interaction parameter 73 3.6.4 Crosslink-density effect in the cononsolvency transition of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) micro-gel and macro-gel 74 3.6.5 Pressure effect on the dimensionless chemical potential change (μ) 75 3.6.6 Pressure effect on the cosolvent-solvent interaction (χcs) 76 3.6.7 Pressure effect on the polymer-solvent interaction (χps) 77 3.6.8 Chemical potential change of DMSO/water mixtures 78 Chapter 4 Gating the translocation of DNA through poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) decorated nanopores using the cononsolvency effect in aqueous environments 80 4.1 Introduction 80 4.2 Methods 80 4.2.1 Preparation of polymer-grafted gold membrane 80 4.2.2 Translocation experiments of fluorescence λ-DNA through nanopores 82 4.2.3 Method of identification and counting of DNA translocation events 84 4.3 Results and discussion 86 4.3.1 Grafting density effect on the swollen behaviors of PNiPAAm polymers around the rim of nanopores 86 4.3.2 Switching effect of polymer chains around the rim of nanopores in the tri-buffer/ethanol mixtures 88 4.3.3 Switching effect of polymer brushes on the flat surface in the tri-buffer/ethanol mixtures 92 4.3.4 An attempt of numerical fit of experimental data using the extended adsorption-attraction model 94 4.4 Chapter summary 95 4.5 Chapter appendix 96 4.5.1 An estimation of grafting density 96 4.5.2 The method of processing data 97 Chapter 5 Concluding remarks and outlooks 100 5.1 Concluding remarks 100 5.2 Outlooks: A preliminary discussion of the cononsolvency transition of polymer solutions 102 References and notes 108 List of figures 119 List of tables 128 Acknowledgements 130 List of publications 131 Erklärung 132