Amphiphilic block copolymers based on poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and
poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) were synthesized by RAFT polymerization. The commercial poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether (Me-PEG-OH, 20 Kg/mol) and difunctional polyethylene glycol (OH-PEG-OH, 20 Kg/mol) were used to synthesize diblock copolymers (Me-PEG-b-PVDF), and triblock copolymers (PVDF-b-PEG-b-PVDF) respectively. For the synthesis, the esterification reaction followed by the SN2 reaction was employed to make macro CTA (Me-PEG-XA, XA-PEG-XA, XA refers to the xanthate group). The macro CTAs were used further for VDF polymerization in dimethyl carbonate (DMC) inside the autoclave. Different molecular weights of the PVDF block (whether in the diblocks or the tribolcks) were obtained based on changes in the reaction time. The resulting block copolymers were molecularly characterized by FT-IR, 1H,19F-NMR, and SEC. The thermal properties were studied by DSC and TGA.
Furthermore, the crystalline phase characterization was investigated by XRD and FT-IR. Being the obtained block copolymers are amphiphilic, their self-assembly was achieved by nanoprecipitation in DMF/water, and they were analyzed by DLS and TEM.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:kaust.edu.sa/oai:repository.kaust.edu.sa:10754/691729 |
Date | 04 May 2023 |
Creators | Alamoudi, Ammar A. |
Contributors | Hadjichristidis, Nikos, Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division, Nunes, Suzana Pereira, Yavuz, Cafer T. |
Source Sets | King Abdullah University of Science and Technology |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Thesis |
Rights | 2024-05-17, At the time of archiving, the student author of this thesis opted to temporarily restrict access to it. The full text of this thesis will become available to the public after the expiration of the embargo on 2024-05-17. |
Relation | N/A |
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