Preparation and application of precise-defined polymers

Supervisor: Dr Cheng Zhang

Co-supervisor: Associate Professor Idriss Blakey

Although synthetic macromolecules and polymers are often termed ‘monodisperse’, their primary structures are not as perfectly controlled as natural macromolecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids. The properties of the synthetic molecular transporters result from the combination of individual molecules, each with unique properties. As such, it is critical to be able to prepare polymers with precisely-defined structures, compositions, and function, which give rise to their special and unique properties. This project will combine controlled radical polymerization with a newly-developed automated chromatography fractionation technique to prepare near-discrete materials. Applications of these well-defined polymers will cover a number of fields from energy materials e.g. solid electrolytes to biomaterial templates e.g. imaging and therapeutic agents.