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During the past several decades polymer materials become widely used as components of medical devices and implants such as hemodialysers, bioartificial organs as well as vascular and recombinant surgery. Most of the devices cannot avoid the blood contact in their use. When the polymer materials come in contact with blood they can cause different undesired host responses like thrombosis, inflammatory reactions and infections. Thus the materials must be hemocompatible in order to minimize these undesired body responses. The earliest and one of the main problems in the use of blood-contacting biomaterials is the surface induced thrombosis. The sequence of the thrombus formation on the artificial surfaces has been well established. The first event, which occurs, after exposure of biomaterials to blood, is the adsorption of blood proteins. Surface physicochemical properties of the materials as wettability greatly influence the amount and conformational changes of adsorbed proteins. In turn the type, amount and conformational state of the adsorbed protein layer determines whether platelets will adhere and become activated or not on the artificial surface and thus to complete the thrombus formation. The adsorption of fibrinogen (FNG), which is present in plasma, has been shown to be closely related to surface induced thrombosis by participating in all processes of the thrombus formation such as fibrin formation, platelet adhesion and aggregation. Therefore study the FNG adsorption to artificial surfaces could contribute to better understanding of the mechanisms of platelet adhesion and activation and thus to controlling the surface induced thrombosis. Endothelization of the polymer surfaces is one of the strategies for improving the materials hemocompatibility, which is believed to be the most ideal solution for making truly blood-compatible materials. Since at physiological conditions proteins such as FNG and fibronectin (FN) are the usual extracellular matrix (ECM) for endothelial cells (EC) adhesion, precoating of the materials with these proteins has been shown to improve EC adhesion and growth in vitro. ECM proteins play an essential role not only like a structural support for cell adhesion and spreading, but also they are important factor in transmitting signals for different cell functions. The ability of cells to remodel plasma proteins such as FNG and FN in matrix-like structures together with the classical cell parameters such as actin cytoskeleton and focal adhesion formation could be used as an criteria for proper cell functioning. The establishment and the maintaining of delicate balance between cell-cell and cell-substrate contacts is another important factor for better EC colonization of the implants. The functionality of newly established endothelium in order to produce antithromotic substances should be always considered when EC seeding is used for improving the hemocompatibility of the polymer materials. Controlling the polymer surface properties such as surface wettability represents a versatile approach to manipulate the above cellular responses and therefore can be used in biomaterial and tissue engineering applications for producing better hemocompatible materials.
Porous Membranes from Imidazolium- and Pyridinium-based Poly(ionic liquid)s with Targeted Properties
(2016)
Foam fractionation of surfactant and protein solutions is a process dedicated to separate surface active molecules from each other due to their differences in surface activities. The process is based on forming bubbles in a certain mixed solution followed by detachment and rising of bubbles through a certain volume of this solution, and consequently on the formation of a foam layer on top of the solution column. Therefore, systematic analysis of this whole process comprises of at first investigations dedicated to the formation and growth of single bubbles in solutions, which is equivalent to the main principles of the well-known bubble pressure tensiometry. The second stage of the fractionation process includes the detachment of a single bubble from a pore or capillary tip and its rising in a respective aqueous solution. The third and final stage of the process is the formation and stabilization of the foam created by these bubbles, which contains the adsorption layers formed at the growing bubble surface, carried up and gets modified during the bubble rising and finally ends up as part of the foam layer.
Bubble pressure tensiometry and bubble profile analysis tensiometry experiments were performed with protein solutions at different bulk concentrations, solution pH and ionic strength in order to describe the process of accumulation of protein and surfactant molecules at the bubble surface. The results obtained from the two complementary methods allow understanding the mechanism of adsorption, which is mainly governed by the diffusional transport of the adsorbing protein molecules to the bubble surface. This mechanism is the same as generally discussed for surfactant molecules. However, interesting peculiarities have been observed for protein adsorption kinetics at sufficiently short adsorption times. First of all, at short adsorption times the surface tension remains constant for a while before it decreases as expected due to the adsorption of proteins at the surface. This time interval is called induction time and it becomes shorter with increasing protein bulk concentration. Moreover, under special conditions, the surface tension does not stay constant but even increases over a certain period of time. This so-called negative surface pressure was observed for BCS and BLG and discussed for the first time in terms of changes in the surface conformation of the adsorbing protein molecules. Usually, a negative surface pressure would correspond to a negative adsorption, which is of course impossible for the studied protein solutions. The phenomenon, which amounts to some mN/m, was rather explained by simultaneous changes in the molar area required by the adsorbed proteins and the non-ideality of entropy of the interfacial layer. It is a transient phenomenon and exists only under dynamic conditions.
The experiments dedicated to the local velocity of rising air bubbles in solutions were performed in a broad range of BLG concentration, pH and ionic strength. Additionally, rising bubble experiments were done for surfactant solutions in order to validate the functionality of the instrument. It turns out that the velocity of a rising bubble is much more sensitive to adsorbing molecules than classical dynamic surface tension measurements. At very low BLG or surfactant concentrations, for example, the measured local velocity profile of an air bubble is changing dramatically in time scales of seconds while dynamic surface tensions still do not show any measurable changes at this time scale. The solution’s pH and ionic strength are important parameters that govern the measured rising velocity for protein solutions. A general theoretical description of rising bubbles in surfactant and protein solutions is not available at present due to the complex situation of the adsorption process at a bubble surface in a liquid flow field with simultaneous Marangoni effects. However, instead of modelling the complete velocity profile, new theoretical work has been started to evaluate the maximum values in the profile as characteristic parameter for dynamic adsorption layers at the bubble surface more quantitatively.
The studies with protein-surfactant mixtures demonstrate in an impressive way that the complexes formed by the two compounds change the surface activity as compared to the original native protein molecules and therefore lead to a completely different retardation behavior of rising bubbles. Changes in the velocity profile can be interpreted qualitatively in terms of increased or decreased surface activity of the formed protein-surfactant complexes. It was also observed that the pH and ionic strength of a protein solution have strong effects on the surface activity of the protein molecules, which however, could be different on the rising bubble velocity and the equilibrium adsorption isotherms. These differences are not fully understood yet but give rise to discussions about the structure of protein adsorption layer under dynamic conditions or in the equilibrium state.
The third main stage of the discussed process of fractionation is the formation and characterization of protein foams from BLG solutions at different pH and ionic strength. Of course a minimum BLG concentration is required to form foams. This minimum protein concentration is a function again of solution pH and ionic strength, i.e. of the surface activity of the protein molecules. Although at the isoelectric point, at about pH 5 for BLG, the hydrophobicity and hence the surface activity should be the highest, the concentration and ionic strength effects on the rising velocity profile as well as on the foamability and foam stability do not show a maximum. This is another remarkable argument for the fact that the interfacial structure and behavior of BLG layers under dynamic conditions and at equilibrium are rather different. These differences are probably caused by the time required for BLG molecules to adapt respective conformations once they are adsorbed at the surface.
All bubble studies described in this work refer to stages of the foam fractionation process. Experiments with different systems, mainly surfactant and protein solutions, were performed in order to form foams and finally recover a solution representing the foamed material. As foam consists to a large extent of foam lamella – two adsorption layers with a liquid core – the concentration in a foamate taken from foaming experiments should be enriched in the stabilizing molecules. For determining the concentration of the foamate, again the very sensitive bubble rising velocity profile method was applied, which works for any type of surface active materials. This also includes technical surfactants or protein isolates for which an accurate composition is unknown.
Proteins are natural polypeptides produced by cells; they can be found in both animals and plants, and possess a variety of functions. One of these functions is to provide structural support to the surrounding cells and tissues. For example, collagen (which is found in skin, cartilage, tendons and bones) and keratin (which is found in hair and nails) are structural proteins. When a tissue is damaged, however, the supporting matrix formed by structural proteins cannot always spontaneously regenerate. Tailor-made synthetic polypeptides can be used to help heal and restore tissue formation.
Synthetic polypeptides are typically synthesized by the so-called ring opening polymerization (ROP) of α-amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides (NCA). Such synthetic polypeptides are generally non-sequence-controlled and thus less complex than proteins. As such, synthetic polypeptides are rarely as efficient as proteins in their ability to self-assemble and form hierarchical or structural supramolecular assemblies in water, and thus, often require rational designing. In this doctoral work, two types of amino acids, γ-benzyl-L/D-glutamate (BLG / BDG) and allylglycine (AG), were selected to synthesize a series of (co)polypeptides of different compositions and molar masses.
A new and versatile synthetic route to prepare polypeptides was developed, and its mechanism and kinetics were investigated. The polypeptide properties were thoroughly studied and new materials were developed from them. In particular, these polypeptides were able to aggregate (or self-assemble) in solution into microscopic fibres, very similar to those formed by collagen. By doing so, they formed robust physical networks and organogels which could be processed into high water-content, pH-responsive hydrogels. Particles with highly regular and chiral spiral morphologies were also obtained by emulsifying these polypeptides. Such polypeptides and the materials derived from them are, therefore, promising candidates for biomedical applications.
Block copolymers are receiving increasing attention in the literature. Reports on amphiphilic block copolymers have now established the basis of their self-assembly behavior: aggregate sizes, morphologies and stability can be explained from the absolute and relative block lengths, the nature of the blocks, the architecture and also solvent selectiveness. In water, self-assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers is assumed to be driven by the hydrophobic. The motivation of this thesis is to study the influence on the self-assembly in water of A b B type block copolymers (with A hydrophilic) of the variation of the hydrophilicity of B from non-soluble (hydrophobic) to totally soluble (hydrophilic). Glucose-modified polybutadiene-block-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) copolymers were prepared and their self-assembly behavior in water studied. The copolymers formed vesicles with an asymmetric membrane with a glycosylated exterior and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) on the inside. Above the low critical solution temperature (LCST) of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), the structure collapsed into micelles with a hydrophobic PNIPAM core and glycosylated exterior. This collapse was found to be reversible. As a result, the structures showed a temperature-dependent interaction with L-lectin proteins and were shown to be able to encapsulate organic molecules. Several families of double hydrophilic block copolymers (DHBC) were prepared. The blocks of these copolymers were biopolymers or polymer chimeras used in aqueous two-phase partition systems. Copolymers based on dextran and poly(ethylene glycol) blocks were able to form aggregates in water. Dex6500-b-PEG5500 copolymer spontaneously formed vesicles with PEG as the “less hydrophilic” barrier and dextran as the solubilizing block. The aggregates were found to be insensitive to the polymer's architecture and concentration (in the dilute range) and only mildly sensitive to temperature. Variation of the block length, yielded different morphologies. A longer PEG chain seemed to promote more curved aggregates following the inverse trend usually observed in amphiphilic block copolymers. A shorter dextran promoted vesicular structures as usually observed for the amphiphilic counterparts. The linking function was shown to have an influence of the morphology but not on the self-assembly capability in itself. The vesicles formed by dex6500-b-PEG5500 showed slow kinetics of clustering in the presence of Con A lectin. In addition both dex6500-b-PEG5500 and its crosslinked derivative were able to encapsulate fluorescent dyes. Two additional dextran-based copolymers were synthesized, dextran-b-poly(vinyl alcohol) and dextran-b-poly(vinyl pyrrolidone). The study of their self-assembly allowed to conclude that aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) is a valid source of inspiration to conceive DHBCs capable of self-assembling. In the second part the principle was extended to polypeptide systems with the synthesis of a poly(N-hydroxyethylglutamine)-block-poly(ethylene glycol) copolymer. The copolymer that had been previously reported to have emulsifying properties was able to form vesicles by direct dissolution of the solid in water. Last, a series of thermoresponsive copolymers were prepared, dextran-b-PNIPAMm. These polymers formed aggregates below the LCST. Their structure could not be unambiguously elucidated but seemed to correspond to vesicles. Above the LCST, the collapse of the PNIPAM chains induced the formation of stable objects of several hundreds of nanometers in radius that evolved with increasing temperature. The cooling of these solution below LCST restored the initial aggregates. This self-assembly of DHBC outside any stimuli of pH, ionic strength, or temperature has only rarely been described in the literature. This work constituted the first formal attempt to frame the phenomenon. Two reasons were accounted for the self-assembly of such systems: incompatibility of the polymer pairs forming the two blocks (enthalpic) and a considerable solubility difference (enthalpic and entropic). The entropic contribution to the positive Gibbs free energy of mixing is believed to arise from the same loss of conformational entropy that is responsible for “the hydrophobic effect” but driven by a competition for water of the two blocks. In that sense this phenomenon should be described as the “hydrophilic effect”.
Nowadays, reactions on surfaces are attaining great scientific interest because of their diverse applications. Some well known examples are production of ammonia on metal surfaces for fertilizers and reduction of poisonous gases from automobiles using catalytic converters. More recently, also photoinduced reactions at surfaces, useful, \textit{e.g.}, for photocatalysis, were studied in detail. Often, very short laser pulses are used for this purpose. Some of these reactions are occurring on femtosecond (1 fs=$10^{-15}$ s) time scales since the motion of atoms (which leads to bond breaking and new bond formation) belongs to this time range. This thesis investigates the femtosecond laser induced associative photodesorption of hydrogen, H$_2$, and deuterium, D$_2$, from a ruthenium metal surface. Many interesting features of this reaction were explored by experimentalists: (i) a huge isotope effect in the desorption probability of H$_2$ and D$_2$, (ii) the desorption yield increases non-linearly with the applied visible (vis) laser fluence, and (iii) unequal energy partitioning to different degrees of freedom. These peculiarities are due to the fact that an ultrashort vis pulse creates hot electrons in the metal. These hot electrons then transfer energy to adsorbate vibrations which leads to desorption. In fact, adsorbate vibrations are strongly coupled to metal electrons, \textit{i.e.}, through non-adiabatic couplings. This means that, surfaces introduce additional channels for energy exchange which makes the control of surface reactions more difficult than the control of reactions in the gas phase. In fact, the quantum yield of surface photochemical reactions is often notoriously small. One of the goals of the present thesis is to suggest, on the basis of theoretical simulations, strategies to control/enhance the photodesorption yield of H$_2$ and D$_2$ from Ru(0001). For this purpose, we suggest a \textit{hybrid scheme} to control the reaction, where the adsorbate vibrations are initially excited by an infrared (IR) pulse, prior to the vis pulse. Both \textit{adiabatic} and \textit{non-adiabatic} representations for photoinduced desorption problems are employed here. The \textit{adiabatic} representation is realized within the classical picture using Molecular Dynamics (MD) with electronic frictions. In a quantum mechanical description, \textit{non-adiabatic} representations are employed within open-system density matrix theory. The time evolution of the desorption process is studied using a two-mode reduced dimensionality model with one vibrational coordinate and one translational coordinate of the adsorbate. The ground and excited electronic state potentials, and dipole function for the IR excitation are taken from first principles. The IR driven vibrational excitation of adsorbate modes with moderate efficiency is achieved by (modified) $\pi$-pulses or/and optimal control theory. The fluence dependence of the desorption reaction is computed by including the electronic temperature of the metal calculated from the two-temperature model. Here, our theoretical results show a good agreement with experimental and previous theoretical findings. We then employed the IR+vis strategy in both models. Here, we found that vibrational excitation indeed promotes the desorption of hydrogen and deuterium. To summarize, we conclude that photocontrol of this surface reaction can be achieved by our IR+vis scheme.
The three major biopolymers, proteins, nucleic acids and glycoconjugates are mainly responsible for the information transfer, which is a fundamental process of life. The biological importance of proteins and nucleic acids are well explored and oligosaccharides in the form of glycoconjugates have gained importance recently. The β-(1→4) linked N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) moiety is a frequently occurring structural unit in various naturally and biologically important oligosaccharides and related conjugates. Chitin which is the most abundant polymer of GlcNAc is widely distributed in nature whereas the related polysaccharide chitosan (polymer of GlcN and GlcNAc) occurs in certain fungi. Chitooligosaccharides of mixed acetylation patterns are of interest for the determination of the substrate specificities and mechanism of chitinases. In this report, we describe the chemical synthesis of three chitotetraoses namely GlcNAc-GlcN-GlcNAc-GlcN, GlcN-GlcNAc-GlcNAc-GlcN and GlcN-GlcN-GlcNAc-GlcNAc. Benzyloxycarbonyl (Z) and p-nitrobenzyloxycarbonyl (PNZ) were used for the amino functionality due to their ability to form the β-linkage during the glycosylation reactions through neighboring group participation and the trichloroacetimidate approach was utilized for the donor. Monomeric, dimeric acceptors and donors have been prepared by utilizing the Z and PNZ groups and coupling between the appropriate donor and acceptors in the presence of Lewis acid yielded the protected tetrasaccharides. Finally cleavage of PNZ followed by reacetylation and the deblocking of other protecting groups afforded the N,N’-diacetyl chitotetraoses in good yield. Successful syntheses for the protected diacetyl chitotetraoses by solid phase synthesis have also been described.
The aim of this doctoral thesis was to establish a technique for the analysis of biomolecules with infrared matrix-assisted laser dispersion (IR-MALDI) ion mobility (IM) spectrometry. The main components of the work were the characterization of the IR-MALDI process, the development and characterization of different ion mobility spectrometers, the use of IR-MALDI-IM spectrometry as a robust, standalone spectrometer and the development of a collision cross-section estimation approach for peptides based on molecular dynamics and thermodynamic reweighting.
First, the IR-MALDI source was studied with atmospheric pressure ion mobility spectrometry and shadowgraphy. It consisted of a metal capillary, at the tip of which a self-renewing droplet of analyte solution was met by an IR laser beam. A relationship between peak shape, ion desolvation, diffusion and extraction pulse delay time (pulse delay) was established. First order desolvation kinetics were observed and related to peak broadening by diffusion, both influenced by the pulse delay. The transport mechanisms in IR-MALDI were then studied by relating different laser impact positions on the droplet surface to the corresponding ion mobility spectra. Two different transport mechanisms were determined: phase explosion due to the laser pulse and electrical transport due to delayed ion extraction. The velocity of the ions stemming from the phase explosion was then measured by ion mobility and shadowgraphy at different time scales and distances from the source capillary, showing an initially very high but rapidly decaying velocity. Finally, the anatomy of the dispersion plume was observed in detail with shadowgraphy and general conclusions over the process were drawn.
Understanding the IR-MALDI process enabled the optimization of the different IM spectrometers at atmospheric and reduced pressure (AP and RP, respectively). At reduced pressure, both an AP and an RP IR-MALDI source were used. The influence of the pulsed ion extraction parameters (pulse delay, width and amplitude) on peak shape, resolution and area was systematically studied in both AP and RP IM spectrometers and discussed in the context of the IR-MALDI process. Under RP conditions, the influence of the closing field and of the pressure was also examined for both AP and RP sources. For the AP ionization RP IM spectrometer, the influence of the inlet field (IF) in the source region was also examined. All of these studies led to the determination of the optimal analytical parameters as well as to a better understanding of the initial ion cloud anatomy.
The analytical performance of the spectrometer was then studied. Limits of detection (LOD) and linear ranges were determined under static and pulsed ion injection conditions and interpreted in the context of the IR-MALDI mechanism. Applications in the separation of simple mixtures were also illustrated, demonstrating good isomer separation capabilities and the advantages of singly charged peaks. The possibility to couple high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to IR-MALDI-IM spectrometry was also demonstrated. Finally, the reduced pressure spectrometer was used to study the effect of high reduced field strength on the mobility of polyatomic ions in polyatomic gases.
The last focus point was on the study of peptide ions. A dataset obtained with electrospray IM spectrometry was characterized and used for the calibration of a collision cross-section (CCS) determination method based on molecular dynamics (MD) simulations at high temperature. Instead of producing candidate structures which are evaluated one by one, this semi-automated method uses the simulation as a whole to determine a single average collision cross-section value by reweighting the CCS of a few representative structures. The method was compared to the intrinsic size parameter (ISP) method and to experimental results. Additional MD data obtained from the simulations was also used to further analyze the peptides and understand the experimental results, an advantage with regard to the ISP method. Finally, the CCS of peptide ions analyzed by IR-MALDI were also evaluated with both ISP and MD methods and the results compared to experiment, resulting in a first validation of the MD method. Thus, this thesis brings together the soft ionization technique that is IR-MALDI, which produces mostly singly charged peaks, with ion mobility spectrometry, which can distinguish between isomers, and a collision cross-section determination method which also provides structural information on the analyte at hand.
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the carrier of human genetic information and is exposed to environmental influences such as the ultraviolet (UV) fraction of sunlight every day. The photostability of the DNA against UV light is astonishing. Even if the DNA bases have a strong absorption maximum at around 260 nm/4.77 eV, their quantum yield of photoproducts remains very low 1. If the photon energies exceed the ionization energy (IE) of the nucleobases ( ̴ 8-9 eV) 2, the DNA can be severely damaged. Photoexcitation and -ionization reactions occur, which can induce strand breaks in the DNA. The efficiency of the excitation and ionization induced strand breaks in the target DNA sequences are represented by cross sections. If Si as a substrate material is used in the VUV irradiation experiments, secondary electrons with an energy below 3.6 eV are generated from the substrate. This low energy electrons (LEE) are known to induce dissociative electron attachment (DEA) in DNA and with it DNA strand breakage very efficiently. LEEs play an important role in cancer radiation therapy, since they are generated secondarily along the radiation track of ionizing radiation.
In the framework of this thesis, different single stranded DNA sequences were irradiated with 8.44 eV vacuum UV (VUV) light and cross sections for single strand breaks (SSB) were determined. Several sequences were also exposed to secondary LEEs, which additionally contributed to the SSBs. First, the cross sections for SSBs depending on the type of nucleobases were determined. Both types of DNA sequences, mono-nucleobase and mixed sequences showed very similar results upon VUV radiation. The additional influence of secondarily generated LEEs resulted in contrast in a clear trend for the SSB cross sections. In this, the polythymine sequence had the highest cross section for SSBs, which can be explained by strong anionic resonances in this energy range. Furthermore, SSB cross sections were determined as a function of sequence length. This resulted in an increase in the strand breaks to the same extent as the increase in the geometrical cross section. The longest DNA sequence (20 nucleotides) investigated in this series, however, showed smaller cross section values for SSBs, which can be explained by conformational changes in the DNA. Moreover, several DNA sequences that included the radiosensitizers 5-Bromouracil (5BrU) and 8-Bromoadenine (8BrA) were investigated and the corresponding SSB cross sections were determined. It was shown that 5BrU reacts very strongly to VUV radiation leading to high strand break yields, which showed in turn a strong sequence-dependency. 8BrA, on the other hand, showed no sensitization to the applied VUV radiation, since almost no increase in strand breakage yield was observed in comparison to non-modified DNA sequences.
In order to be able to identify the mechanisms of radiation damage by photons, the IEs of certain DNA sequences were further explored using photoionization tandem mass spectrometry. By varying the DNA sequence, both the IEs depending on the type of nucleobase as well as on the DNA strand length could be identified and correlated to the SSB cross sections. The influence of the IE on the photoinduced reaction in the brominated DNA sequences could be excluded.
Improving Hemocompatibility of poly(ether imide) by surface functionalization with polyethers
(2012)
Mesoporous organosilica materials with amine functions : surface characteristics and chirality
(2005)
In this work mesoporous organisilica materials are synthesized through the silica sol-gel process. For this a new class of precursors which are also surfactant are synthesized and self-assembled. This leads to a high surface area functionality which is analysized with copper (II) and water adsorption.
Hepcidin-25 (Hep-25) plays a crucial role in the control of iron homeostasis. Since the dysfunction of the hepcidin pathway leads to multiple diseases as a result of iron imbalance, hepcidin represents a potential target for the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of iron metabolism. Despite intense research in the last decade targeted at developing a selective immunoassay for iron disorder diagnosis and treatment and better understanding the ferroportin-hepcidin interaction, questions remain. The key to resolving these underlying questions is acquiring exact knowledge of the 3D structure of native Hep-25. Since it was determined that the N-terminus, which is responsible for the bioactivity of Hep-25, contains a small Cu(II)-binding site known as the ATCUN motif, it was assumed that the Hep-25-Cu(II) complex is the native, bioactive form of the hepcidin. This structure has thus far not been elucidated in detail. Owing to the lack of structural information on metal-bound Hep-25, little is known about its possible biological role in iron metabolism. Therefore, this work is focused on structurally characterizing the metal-bound Hep-25 by NMR spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations. For the present work, a protocol was developed to prepare and purify properly folded Hep-25 in high quantities. In order to overcome the low solubility of Hep-25 at neutral pH, we introduced the C-terminal DEDEDE solubility tag. The metal binding was investigated through a series of NMR spectroscopic experiments to identify the most affected amino acids that mediate metal coordination. Based on the obtained NMR data, a structural calculation was performed in order to generate a model structure of the Hep-25-Ni(II) complex. The DEDEDE tag was excluded from the structural calculation due to a lack of NMR restraints. The dynamic nature and fast exchange of some of the amide protons with solvent reduced the overall number of NMR restraints needed for a high-quality structure. The NMR data revealed that the 20 Cterminal Hep-25 amino acids experienced no significant conformational changes, compared to published results, as a result of a pH change from pH 3 to pH 7 and metal binding. A 3D model of the Hep-25-Ni(II) complex was constructed from NMR data recorded for the hexapeptideNi(II) complex and Hep-25-DEDEDE-Ni(II) complex in combination with the fixed conformation of 19 C-terminal amino acids. The NMR data of the Hep-25-DEDEDE-Ni(II) complex indicates that the ATCUN motif moves independently from the rest of the structure. The 3D model structure of the metal-bound Hep-25 allows for future works to elucidate hepcidin’s interaction with its receptor ferroportin and should serve as a starting point for the development of antibodies with improved selectivity.
The growing energy demand of the modern economies leads to the increased consumption of fossil fuels in form of coal, oil, and natural gases, as the mains sources. The combustion of these carbon-based fossil fuels is inevitably producing greenhouse gases, especially CO2. Approaches to tackle the CO2 problem are to capture it from the combustion sources or directly from air, as well as to avoid CO2 production in energy consuming sources (e.g., in the refrigeration sector). In the former, relatively low CO2 concentrations and competitive adsorption of other gases is often leading to low CO2 capacities and selectivities. In both approaches, the interaction of gas molecules with porous materials plays a key role. Porous carbon materials possess unique properties including electric conductivity, tunable porosity, as well as thermal and chemical stability. Nevertheless, pristine carbon materials offer weak polarity and thus low CO2 affinity. This can be overcome by nitrogen doping, which enhances the affinity of carbon materials towards acidic or polar guest molecules (e.g., CO2, H2O, or NH3). In contrast to heteroatom-free materials, such carbon materials are in most cases “noble”, that is, they oxidize other matter rather than being oxidized due to the very positive working potential of their electrons. The challenging task here is to achieve homogenous distribution of significant nitrogen content with similar bonding motives throughout the carbon framework and a uniform pore size/distribution to maximize host-guest interactions. The aim of this thesis is the development of novel synthesis pathways towards nitrogen-doped nanoporous noble carbon materials with precise design on a molecular level and understanding of their structure-related performance in energy and environmental applications, namely gas adsorption and electrochemical energy storage.
A template-free synthesis approach towards nitrogen-doped noble microporous carbon materials with high pyrazinic nitrogen content and C2N-type stoichiometry was established via thermal condensation of a hexaazatriphenylene derivative. The materials exhibited high uptake of guest molecules, such as H2O and CO2 at low concentrations, as well as moderate CO2/N2 selectivities. In the following step, the CO2/N2 selectivity was enhanced towards molecular sieving of CO2 via kinetic size exclusion of N2. The precise control over the condensation degree, and thus, atomic construction and porosity of the resulting materials led to remarkable CO2/N2 selectivities, CO2 capacities, and heat of CO2 adsorption. The ultrahydrophilic nature of the pore walls and the narrow microporosity of these carbon materials served as ideal basis for the investigation of interface effects with more polar guest molecules than CO2, namely H2O and NH3.
H2O vapor physisorption measurements, as well as NH3-temperature programmed desorption and thermal response measurements showed exceptionally high affinity towards H2O vapor and NH3 gas. Another series of nitrogen-doped carbon materials was synthesized by direct condensation of a pyrazine-fused conjugated microporous polymer and their structure-related performance in electrochemical energy storage, namely as anode materials for sodium-ion battery, was investigated.
All in all, the findings in this thesis exemplify the value of molecularly designed nitrogen-doped carbon materials with remarkable heteroatom content implemented as well-defined structure motives. The simultaneous adjustment of the porosity renders these materials suitable candidates for fundamental studies about the interactions between nitrogen-doped carbon materials and different guest species.
Polymeric materials, which can perform reversible shape changes after programming, in response to a thermal or electrical stimulation, can serve as (soft) actuating components in devices like artificial muscles, photonics, robotics or sensors. Such polymeric actuators can be realized with hydrogels, liquid crystalline elastomers, electro-active polymers or shape-memory polymers by controlling with stumuli such as heat, light, electrostatic or magnetic field. If the application conditions do not allow the direct heating or electric stimulation of these smart devices, noncontact triggering will be required. Remotely controlled actuation have been reported for liquid crystalline elastomer composites or shape-memory polymer network composites, when a persistent external stress is applied during inductive heating in an alternating magnetic field. However such composites cannot meet the demands of applications requiring remotely controlled free-standing motions of the actuating components.
The current thesis investigates, whether a reprogrammable remotely controlled soft actuator can be realized by magneto-sensitive multiphase shape-memory copolymer network composites containing magnetite nanoparticles as magneto-sensitive multivalent netpoints. A central hypothesis was that a magnetically controlled two-way (reversible bidirectional) shape-memory effect in such nanocomposites can be achieved without application of external stress (freestanding), when the required orientation of the crystallizable actuation domains (ADs) can be ensured by an internal skeleton like structure formed by a second crystallizable phase determing the samples´s geometry, while magneto-sensitive iron oxide nanoparticles covalently integrated in the ADs allow remote temperature control. The polymer matrix of these composites should exhibit a phase-segregated morphology mainly composed of cyrstallizable ADs, whereby a second set of higher melting crystallites can take a skeleton like, geometry determining function (geometry determining domains, GDs) after programming of the composite and in this way the orientation of the ADs is established and maintained during actuation. The working principle for the reversible bidirectional movements in the multiphase shape-memory polymer network composite is related to a melting-induced contraction (MIC) during inductive heating and the crystallization induced elongation (CIE) of the oriented ADs during cooling. Finally, the amount of multivalent magnetosensitive netpoints in such a material should be as low as possible to ensure an adequate overall elasticity of the nanocomposite and at the same time a complete melting of both ADs and GDs via inductive heating, which is mandatory for enabling reprogrammability.
At first, surface decorated iron oxide nanoparticles were synthesized and investigated. The coprecipitation method was applied to synthesize magnetic nanoparticles (mNPs) based on magnetite with size of 12±3 nm and in a next step a ring-opening polymerization (ROP) was utilized for covalent surface modification of such mNPs with oligo(ϵ-caprolactone) (OCL) or oligo(ω-pentadecalactone) (OPDL) via the “grafting from” approach. A successful coating of mNPs with OCL and OPDL was confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) experiments showing melting peaks at 52±1 °C for mNP-OCL and 89±1 °C for mNP-OPDL. It was further explored whether two-layered surface decorated mNPs, can be prepared via a second surface-initiated ROP of mNP-OCL or mNP-OPDL with ω-pentadecalactone or ϵ-caprolactone. The observation of two distinct melting transitions in DSC experiments as well as the increase in molecular weight of the detached coatings determined by GPC and 1H-NMR indicated a successful synthesis of the twolayered nanoparticles mNP-OCL-OPDL and mNP-OPDL-OCL. In contrast TEM micrographs revealed a reduction of the thickness of the polymeric coating on the nanoparticles after the second ROP, indicating that the applied synthesis and purification required further optimization.
For evaluating the impact of the dispersion of mNPs within a polymer matrix on the resulting inductive heating capability of composites, plain mNPs as well as OCL coated magnetite nanoparticles (mNP-OCLs) were physically incorporated into crosslinked poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) networks. Inductive heating experiments were performed with both networks cPCL/mNP and cPCL/mNP-OCL in an alternating magnetic field (AMF) with a magnetic field strength of H = 30 kA·m-1. Here a bulk temperature of Tbulk = 74±2 °C was achieved for cPCL/mNP-OCL, which was almost 20 °C higher than the melting transition of the PCL-based polymer matrix. In contrast, the composite with plain mNPs could only reach a Tbulk of 48±2 °C, which is not sufficient for a complete melting of all PCL crystallites as required for actuation.
The inductive heating capability of a multiphase copolymer nanocomposite network (designed as soft actuators) containing surface decorated mNPs as covalent netpoints was investigated. Such composite was synthesized from star-shaped OCL and OPDL precursors, as well as mNP-OCLs via reaction with HDI. The weight ratio of OPDL and OCL in the starting reaction mixture was 15/85 (wt%/wt%) and the amount of iron oxide in the nanocomposite was 4 wt%. DSC experiments revealed two well separated melting and crystallization peaks confirming the required phase-segregated morphology in the nanocomposite NC-mNP-OCL. TEM images could illustrate a phase-segregated morphology of the polymer matrix on the microlevel with droplet shaped regions attributed to the OPDL domains dispersed in an OCL matrix. The TEM images could further demonstrate that the nanoparticulate netpoints in NC-mNP-OCL were almost homogeneously dispersed within the OCL domains. The tests of the inductive heating capability of the nanocomposites at a magnetic field strength of Hhigh = 11.2 kA·m-1 revealed a achievable plateau surface temperature of Tsurf = 57±1 °C for NC-mNP-OCL recorded by an infrared video camera. An effective heat generation constant (̅P) can be derived from a multi-scale model for the heat generation, which is proportional to the rate of heat generation per unit volume of the sample. NC-mNP-OCL with homogeneously dispersed mNP-OCLs exhibited a ̅P value of 1.04±0.01 K·s- 1 at Hhigh, while at Hreset = 30.0 kA·m-1 a Tsurf of 88±1 °C (where all OPDL related crystallite are molten) and a ̅P value of 1.93±0.02 K·s-1 was obtained indicating a high magnetic heating capability of the composite.
The free-standing magnetically-controlled reversible shape-memory effect (mrSME) was explored with originally straight nanocomposite samples programmed by bending to an angle of 180°. By switching the magnetic field on and off the composite sample was allowed to repetitively heat to 60 °C and cool to the ambient temperature. A pronounced mrSME, characterized by changes in bending angle of Δϐrev = 20±3° could be obtained for a composite sample programmed by bending when a magnetic field strength of Hhigh = 11.2 kA·m-1 was applied in a multi-cyclic magnetic bending experiment with 600 heating-cooling cycles it could be shown that the actuation performance did not change with increasing number of test cycles, demonstrating the accuracy and reproducibility of this soft actuator. The degree of actuation as well as the kinetics of the shape changes during heating could be tuned by variation of the magnetic filed strength between Hlow and Hhigh or the magnetic field exposure time. When Hreset = 30.0 kA·m-1 was applied the programmed geometry was erased and the composite sample returned to it´s originally straight shape. The reprogrammability of the nanocomposite actuators was demonstrated by one and the same test specimen first exhibiting reversible angle changes when programmed by bending, secondly reprogrammed to a concertina, which expands upon inductive heating and contracts during cooling and finally reprogrammed to a clip like shape, which closes during cooling and opens when Hhigh was applied. In a next step the applicability of the presented remote controllable shape-memory polymer actuators was demonstrated by repetitive opening and closing of a multiring device prepared from NC-mNP-OCL, which repetitively opens and closes when a alternating magnetic field (Hhigh = 11.2 kA·m-1) was switched on and off.
For investigation of the micro- and nanostructural changes related to the actuation of the developed nanocomposite, AFM and WAXS experiments were conducted with programmed nanocomposite samples under cyclic heating and cooling between 25 °C and 60 °C. In AFM experiments the change in the distance (D) between representative droplet-like structures related to the OPDL geometry determining domains was used to calculate the reversible change in D. Here Drev = 3.5±1% was found for NC-mNP-OCL which was in good agreement with the results of the magneto-mechanical actuation experiments. Finally, the analysis of azimuthal (radial) WAXS scattering profiles could support the oriented crystallization of the OCL actuation domains at 25 °C.
In conclusion, the results of this work successfully demonstrated that shape-memory polymer nanocomposites, containing mNPs as magneto-sensitive multifunctional netpoints in a covalently crosslinked multiphase polymer matrix, exhibit magnetically (remotely) controlled actuations upon repetitive exposure to an alternating magnetic field. Furthermore, the (shape) memory of such a nanocomposite can be erased by exposing it to temperatures above the melting temperature of the geometry forming domains, which allows a reprogramming of the actuator. These findings would be relevant for designing novel reprogrammable remotely controllable soft polymeric actuators.
Lipid monolayers coupled to polyelectrolyte multilayers : stability, dynamics and interactions
(2003)
The properties of a series of well-defined new surfactant oligomers (dimers to tetramers)were examined. From a molecular point of view, these oligomeric surfactants consist of simple monomeric cationic surfactant fragments coupled via the hydrophilic ammonium chloride head groups by spacer groups (different in nature and length). Properties of these cationic surfactant oligomers in aqueous solution such as solubility, micellization and surface activity, micellar size and aggregation number were discussed with respect to the two new molecular variables introduced, i.e. degree of oligomerization and spacer group, in order to establish structure – property relationships. Thus, increasing the degree of oligomerization results in a pronounced decrease of the critical micellization concentration (CMC). Both reduced spacer length and increased spacer hydrophobicity lead to a decrease of the CMC, but to a lesser extent. For these particular compounds, the formed micelles are relatively small and their aggregation number decreases with increasing the degree of oligomerization, increasing spacer length and sterical hindrance. In addition, pseudo-phase diagrams were established for the dimeric surfactants in more complex systems, namely inverse microemulsions, demonstrating again the important influence of the spacer group on the surfactant behaviour. Furthermore, the influence of additives on the property profile of the dimeric compounds was examined, in order to see if the solution properties can be improved while using less material. Strong synergistic effects were observed by adding special organic salts (e.g. sodium salicylate, sodium vinyl benzoate, etc.) to the surfactant dimers in stoichiometric amounts. For such mixtures, the critical aggregation concentration is strongly shifted to lower concentration, the effect being more pronounced for dimers than for analogous monomers. A sharp decrease of the surface tension can also be attained. Many of the organic anions produce viscoelastic solutions when added to the relatively short-chain dimers in aqueous solution, as evidenced by rheological measurements. This behaviour reflects the formation of entangled wormlike micelles due to strong interactions of the anions with the cationic surfactants, decreasing the curvature of the micellar aggregates. It is found that the associative behaviour is enhanced by dimerization. For a given counterion, the spacer group may also induce a stronger viscosifying effect depending on its length and hydrophobicity. Oppositely charged surfactants were combined with the cationic dimers, too. First, some mixtures with the conventional anionic surfactant SDS revealed vesicular aggregates in solution. Also, in view of these catanionic mixtures, a novel anionic dimeric surfactant based on EDTA was synthesized and studied. The synthesis route is relatively simple and the compound exhibits particularly appealing properties such as low CMC and σCMC values, good solubilization capacity of hydrophobic probes and high tolerance to hard water. Noteworthy, mixtures with particular cationic dimers gave rise to viscous solutions, reflecting the micelle growth.
In the present thesis, the self-assembly of multi thermoresponsive block copolymers in dilute aqueous solution was investigated by a combination of turbidimetry, dynamic light scattering, TEM measurements, NMR as well as fluorescence spectroscopy. The successive conversion of such block copolymers from a hydrophilic into a hydrophobic state includes intermediate amphiphilic states with a variable hydrophilic-to-lipophilic balance. As a result, the self-organization is not following an all-or-none principle but a multistep aggregation in dilute solution was observed. The synthesis of double thermoresponsive diblock copolymers as well as triple thermoresponsive triblock copolymers was realized using twofold-TMS labeled RAFT agents which provide direct information about the average molar mass as well as residual end group functionality from a routine proton NMR spectrum. First a set of double thermosensitive diblock copolymers poly(N-n-propylacrylamide)-b-poly(N-ethylacrylamide) was synthesized which differed only in the relative size of the two blocks. Depending on the relative block lengths, different aggregation pathways were found. Furthermore, the complementary TMS-labeled end groups served as NMR-probes for the self-assembly of these diblock copolymers in dilute solution. Reversible, temperature sensitive peak splitting of the TMS-signals in NMR spectroscopy was indicative for the formation of mixed star-/flower-like micelles in some cases. Moreover, triple thermoresponsive triblock copolymers from poly(N-n-propylacrylamide) (A), poly(methoxydiethylene glycol acrylate) (B) and poly(N-ethylacrylamide) (C) were obtained from sequential RAFT polymerization in all possible block sequences (ABC, BAC, ACB). Their self-organization behavior in dilute aqueous solution was found to be rather complex and dependent on the positioning of the different blocks within the terpolymers. Especially the localization of the low-LCST block (A) had a large influence on the aggregation behavior. Above the first cloud point, aggregates were only observed when the A block was located at one terminus. Once placed in the middle, unimolecular micelles were observed which showed aggregation only above the second phase transition temperature of the B block. Carrier abilities of such triple thermosensitive triblock copolymers tested in fluorescence spectroscopy, using the solvatochromic dye Nile Red, suggested that the hydrophobic probe is less efficiently incorporated by the polymer with the BAC sequence as compared to ABC or ACB polymers above the first phase transition temperature. In addition, due to the problem of increasing loss of end group functionality during the subsequent polymerization steps, a novel concept for the one-step synthesis of multi thermoresponsive block copolymers was developed. This allowed to synthesize double thermoresponsive di- and triblock copolymers in a single polymerization step. The copolymerization of different N-substituted maleimides with a thermosensitive styrene derivative (4-vinylbenzyl methoxytetrakis(oxyethylene) ether) led to alternating copolymers with variable LCST. Consequently, an excess of this styrene-based monomer allowed the synthesis of double thermoresponsive tapered block copolymers in a single polymerization step.
The motivation of this work was to investigate the self-assembly of a block copolymer species that attended little attraction before, double hydrophilic block copolymers (DHBCs). DHBCs consist of two linear hydrophilic polymer blocks. The self-assembly of DHBCs towards suprastructures such as particles and vesicles is determined via a strong difference in hydrophilicity between the corresponding blocks leading to a microphase separation due to immiscibility. The benefits of DHBCs and the corresponding particles and vesicles, such as biocompatibility, high permeability towards water and hydrophilic compounds as well as the large amount of possible functionalizations that can be addressed to the block copolymers make the application of DHBC based structures a viable choice in biomedicine. In order to assess a route towards self-assembled structures from DHBCs that display the potential to act as cargos for future applications, several block copolymers containing two hydrophilic polymer blocks were synthesized. Poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) (PEO-b-PVP) and Poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone-co-N-vinylimidazole) (PEO-b-P(VP-co-VIm) block copolymers were synthesized via reversible deactivation radical polymerization (RDRP) techniques starting from a PEO-macro chain transfer agent. The block copolymers displayed a concentration dependent self-assembly behavior in water which was determined via dynamic light scattering (DLS). It was possible to observe spherical particles via laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) and cryogenic scanning electron microscopy (cryo SEM) at highly concentrated solutions of PEO-b-PVP. Furthermore, a crosslinking strategy with (PEO-b-P(VP-co-VIm) was developed applying a diiodo derived crosslinker diethylene glycol bis(2-iodoethyl) ether to form quaternary amines at the VIm units. The formed crosslinked structures proved stability upon dilution and transfer into organic solvents. Moreover, self-assembly and crosslinking in DMF proved to be more advantageous and the crosslinked structures could be successfully transferred to aqueous solution. The afforded spherical submicron particles could be visualized via LSCM, cryo SEM and Cryo TEM.
Double hydrophilic pullulan-b-poly(acrylamide) block copolymers were synthesized via copper catalyzed alkyne azide cycloaddition (CuAAC) starting from suitable pullulan alkyne and azide functionalized poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) (PDMA) and poly(N-ethylacrylamide) (PEA) homopolymers. The conjugation reaction was confirmed via SEC and 1H-NMR measurements. The self-assembly of the block copolymers was monitored with DLS and static light scattering (SLS) measurements indicating the presence of hollow spherical structures. Cryo SEM measurements could confirm the presence of vesicular structures for Pull-b-PEA block copolymers. Solutions of Pull-b-PDMA displayed particles in cryo SEM. Moreover, an end group functionalization of Pull-b-PDMA with Rhodamine B allowed assessing the structure via LSCM and hollow spherical structures were observed indicating the presence of vesicles, too.
An exemplified pathway towards a DHBC based drug delivery vehicle was demonstrated with the block copolymer Pull-b-PVP. The block copolymer was synthesized via RAFT/MADIX techniques starting from a pullulan chain transfer agent. Pull-b-PVP displayed a concentration dependent self-assembly in water with an efficiency superior to the PEO-b-PVP system, which could be observed via DLS. Cryo SEM and LSCM microscopy displayed the presence of spherical structures. In order to apply a reversible crosslinking strategy on the synthesized block copolymer, the pullulan block was selectively oxidized to dialdehydes with NaIO4. The oxidation of the block copolymer was confirmed via SEC and 1H-NMR measurements. The self-assembled and oxidized structures were subsequently crosslinked with cystamine dihiydrochloride, a pH and redox responsive crosslinker resulting in crosslinked vesicles which were observed via cryo SEM. The vesicular structures of crosslinked Pull-b-PVP could be disassembled by acid treatment or the application of the redox agent tris(2-carboxyethyl)-phosphin-hydrochloride. The successful disassembly was monitored with DLS measurements.
To conclude, self-assembled structures from DHBCs such as particles and vesicles display a strong potential to generate an impact on biomedicine and nanotechnologies. The variety of DHBC compositions and functionalities are very promising features for future applications.
The underlying motivation for the work carried out for this thesis was the growing need for more sustainable technologies. The aim was to synthesize a “palette” of functional nanomaterials using the established technique of hydrothermal carbonization (HTC). The incredible diversity of HTC was demonstrated together with small but steady advances in how HTC can be manipulated to tailor material properties for specific applications. Two main strategies were used to modify the materials obtained by HTC of glucose, a model precursor representing biomass. The first approach was the introduction of heteroatoms, or “doping” of the carbon framework. Sulfur was for the first time introduced as a dopant in hydrothermal carbon. The synthesis of sulfur and sulfur/nitrogen doped microspheres was presented whereby it was shown that the binding state of sulfur could be influenced by varying the type of sulfur source. Pyrolysis may additionally be used to tune the heteroatom binding states which move to more stable motifs with increasing pyrolysis temperature. Importantly, the presence of aromatic binding states in the as synthesized hydrothermal carbon allows for higher heteroatom retention levels after pyrolysis and hence more efficient use of dopant sources. In this regard, HTC may be considered as an “intermediate” step in the formation of conductive heteroatom doped carbon. To assess the novel hydrothermal carbons in terms of their potential for electrochemical applications, materials with defined nano-architectures and high surface areas were synthesized via templated, as well as template-free routes. Sulfur and/or nitrogen doped carbon hollow spheres (CHS) were synthesized using a polystyrene hard templating approach and doped carbon aerogels (CA) were synthesized using either the albumin directed or borax-mediated hydrothermal carbonization of glucose. Electrochemical testing showed that S/N dual doped CHS and aerogels derived via the albumin approach exhibited superior catalytic performance compared to solely nitrogen or sulfur doped counterparts in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) relevant to fuel cells. Using the borax mediated aerogel formation, nitrogen content and surface area could be tuned and a carbon aerogel was engineered to maximize electrochemical performance. The obtained sample exhibited drastically improved current densities compared to a platinum catalyst (but lower onset potential), as well as excellent long term stability. In the second approach HTC was carried out at elevated temperatures (550 °C) and pressure (50 bar), corresponding to the superheated vapor regime (htHTC). It was demonstrated that the carbon materials obtained via htHTC are distinct from those obtained via ltHTC and subsequent pyrolysis at 550 °C. No difference in htHTC-derived material properties could be observed between pentoses and hexoses. The material obtained from a polysaccharide exhibited a slightly lower degree of carbonization but was otherwise similar to the monosaccharide derived samples. It was shown that in addition to thermally induced carbonization at 550 °C, the SHV environment exhibits a catalytic effect on the carbonization process. The resulting materials are chemically inert (i.e. they contain a negligible amount of reactive functional groups) and possess low surface area and electronic conductivity which distinguishes them from carbon obtained from pyrolysis. Compared to the materials presented in the previous chapters on chemical modifications of hydrothermal carbon, this makes them ill-suited candidates for electronic applications like lithium ion batteries or electrocatalysts. However, htHTC derived materials could be interesting for applications that require chemical inertness but do not require specific electronic properties. The final section of this thesis therefore revisited the latex hard templating approach to synthesize carbon hollow spheres using htHTC. However, by using htHTC it was possible to carry out template removal in situ because the second heating step at 550 °C was above the polystyrene latex decomposition temperature. Preliminary tests showed that the CHS could be dispersed in an aqueous polystyrene latex without monomer penetrating into the hollow sphere voids. This leaves the stagnant air inside the CHS intact which in turn is promising for their application in heat and sound insulating coatings. Overall the work carried out in this thesis represents a noteworthy development in demonstrating the great potential of sustainable carbon materials.
Proteins are amphiphilic and adsorb at liquid interfaces. Therefore, they can be efficient stabilizers of foams and emulsions. β-lactoglobulin (BLG) is one of the most widely studied proteins due to its major industrial applications, in particular in food technology.
In the present work, the influence of different bulk concentration, solution pH and ionic strength on the dynamic and equilibrium pressures of BLG adsorbed layers at the solution/tetradecane (W/TD) interface has been investigated. Dynamic interfacial pressure (Π) and interfacial dilational elastic modulus (E’) of BLG solutions for various concentrations at three different pH values of 3, 5 and 7 at a fixed ionic strength of 10 mM and for a selected fixed concentration at three different ionic strengths of 1 mM, 10 mM and 100 mM are measured by Profile Analysis Tensiometer PAT-1 (SINTERFACE Technologies, Germany). A quantitative data analysis requires additional consideration of depletion due to BLG adsorption at the interface at low protein bulk concentrations. This fact makes experiments more efficient when oil drops are studied in the aqueous protein solutions rather than solution drops formed in oil. On the basis of obtained experimental data, concentration dependencies and the effect of solution pH on the protein surface activity was qualitatively analysed. In the presence of 10 mM buffer, we observed that generally the adsorbed amount is increasing with increasing BLG bulk concentration for all three pH values. The adsorption kinetics at pH 5 result in the highest Π values at any time of adsorption while it exhibits a less active behaviour at pH 3.
Since the experimental data have not been in a good agreement with the classical diffusion controlled model due to the conformational changes which occur when the protein molecules get in contact with the hydrophobic oil phase in order to adapt to the interfacial environment, a new theoretical model is proposed here. The adsorption kinetics data were analysed with the newly proposed model, which is the classical diffusion model but modified by assuming an additional change in the surface activity of BLG molecules when adsorbing at the interface. This effect can be expressed through the adsorption activity constant in the corresponding equation of state. The dilational visco-elasticity of the BLG adsorbed interfacial layers is determined from measured dynamic interfacial tensions during sinusoidal drop area variations. The interfacial tension responses to these harmonic drop oscillations are interpreted with the same thermodynamic model which is used for the corresponding adsorption isotherm.
At a selected BLG concentration of 2×10-6 mol/l, the influence of the ionic strength using different buffer concentration of 1, 10 and 100 mM on the interfacial pressure was studied. It is affected weakly at pH 5, whereas it has a strong impact by increasing buffer concentration at pH 3 and 7. In conclusion, the structure formation of BLG adsorbed layer in the early stage of adsorption at the W/TD interface is similar to those of the solution/air (W/A) surface. However, the equation of state at the W/TD interface provides an adsorption activity constant which is almost two orders of magnitude higher than that for the solution/air surface.
At the end of this work, a new experimental tool called Drop and Bubble Micro Manipulator DBMM (SINTERFACE Technologies, Germany) has been introduced to study the stability of protein covered bubbles against coalescence. Among the available protocols the lifetime between the moment of contact and coalescence of two contacting bubble is determined for different BLG concentrations. The adsorbed amount of BLG is determined as a function of time and concentration and correlates with the observed coalescence behaviour of the contacting bubbles.
The present thesis focuses on the synthesis of nanostructured iron-based compounds by using β-FeOOH nanospindles and poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs) vesicles as hard and soft templates, respectively, to suppress the shuttle effect of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) in Li-S batteries. Three types of composites with different nanostructures (mesoporous nanospindle, yolk-shell nanospindle, and nanocapsule) have been synthesized and applied as sulfur host material for Li-S batteries. Their interactions with LiPSs and effects on the electrochemical performance of Li-S batteries have been systematically studied.
In the first part of the thesis, carbon-coated mesoporous Fe3O4 (C@M-Fe3O4) nanospindles have been synthesized to suppress the shuttle effect of LiPSs. First, β-FeOOH nanospindles have been synthesized via the hydrolysis of iron (III) chloride in aqueous solution and after silica coating and subsequent calcination, mesoporous Fe2O3 (M-Fe2O3) have been obtained inside the confined silica layer through pyrolysis of β-FeOOH. After the removal of the silica layer, electron tomography (ET) has been applied to rebuild the 3D structure of the M-Fe2O3 nanospindles. After coating a thin layer of polydopamine (PDA) as carbon source, the PDA-coated M-Fe2O3 particles have been calcinated to synthesize C@M-Fe3O4 nanospindles. With the chemisorption of Fe3O4 and confinement of mesoporous structure to anchor LiPSs, the composite C@M-Fe3O4/S electrode delivers a remaining capacity of 507.7 mAh g-1 at 1 C after 600 cycles.
In the second part of the thesis, a series of iron-based compounds (Fe3O4, FeS2, and FeS) with the same yolk-shell nanospindle morphology have been synthesized, which allows for the direct comparison of the effects of compositions on the electrochemical performance of Li-S batteries. The Fe3O4-carbon yolk-shell nanospindles have been synthesized by using the β-FeOOH nanospindles as hard template. Afterwards, Fe3O4-carbon yolk-shell nanospindles have been used as precursors to obtain iron sulfides (FeS and FeS2)-carbon yolk-shell nanospindles through sulfidation at different temperatures. Using the three types of yolk-shell nanospindles as sulfur host, the effects of compositions on interactions with LiPSs and electrochemical performance in Li-S batteries have been systematically investigated and compared. Benefiting from the chemisorption and catalytic effect of FeS2 particles and the physical confinement of the carbon shell, the FeS2-C/S electrode exhibits the best electrochemical performance with an initial specific discharge capacity of 877.6 mAh g-1 at 0.5 C and a retention ratio of 86.7% after 350 cycles.
In the third part, PILs vesicles have been used as soft template to synthesize carbon nanocapsules embedded with iron nitride particles to immobilize and catalyze LiPSs in Li-S batteries. First, 3-n-decyl-1-vinylimidazolium bromide has been used as monomer to synthesize PILs nanovesicles by free radical polymerization. Assisted by PDA coating route and ion exchange, PIL nanovesicles have been successfully applied as soft template in morphology-maintaining carbonization to prepare carbon nanocapsules embedded with iron nitride nanoparticles (FexN@C). The well-dispersed iron nitride nanoparticles effectively catalyze the conversion of LiPSs to Li2S, owing to their high electrical conductivity and strong chemical binding to LiPSs. The constructed FexN@C/S cathode demonstrates a high initial discharge capacity of 1085.0 mAh g-1 at 0.5 C with a remaining value of 930.0 mAh g-1 after 200 cycles.
The results in the present thesis demonstrate the facile synthetic routes of nanostructured iron-based compounds with controllable morphologies and compositions using soft and hard colloidal templates, which can be applied as sulfur host to suppress the shuttle behavior of LiPSs. The synthesis approaches developed in this thesis are also applicable to fabricating other transition metal-based compounds with porous nanostructures for other applications.
Time-dependent correlation function based methods to study optical spectroscopy involving electronic transitions can be traced back to the work of Heller and coworkers. This intuitive methodology can be expected to be computationally efficient and is applied in the current work to study the vibronic absorption, emission, and resonance Raman spectra of selected organic molecules. Besides, the "non-standard" application of this approach to photoionization processes is also explored. The application section consists of four chapters as described below.
In Chapter 4, the molar absorptivities and vibronic absorption/emission spectra of perylene and several of its N-substituted derivatives are investigated. By systematically varying the number and position of N atoms, it is shown that the presence of nitrogen heteroatoms has a negligible effect on the molecular structure and geometric distortions upon electronic transitions, while spectral properties are more sensitive: In particular the number of N atoms is important while their position is less decisive. Thus, N-substitution can be used to fine-tune the optical properties of perylene-based molecules.
In Chapter 5, the same methods are applied to study the vibronic absorption/emission and resonance Raman spectra of a newly synthesized donor-acceptor type molecule. The simulated absorption/emission spectra agree fairly well with experimental data, with discrepancies being attributed to solvent effects. Possible modes which may dominate the fine-structure in the vibronic spectra are proposed by analyzing the correlation function with the aid of Raman and resonance Raman spectra.
In the next two chapters, besides the above types of spectra, the methods are extended to study photoelectron spectra of several small diamondoid-related systems (molecules, radicals, and cations). Comparison of the photoelectron spectra with available experimental data suggests that the correlation function based approach can describe ionization processes reasonably well. Some of these systems, cationic species in particular, exhibit somewhat peculiar optical behavior, which presents them as possible candidates for functional devices.
Correlation function based methods in a more general sense can be very versatile. In fact, besides the above radiative processes, formulas for non-radiative processes such as internal conversion have been derived in literature. Further implementation of the available methods is among our next goals.
Supercapacitors are electrochemical energy storage devices with rapid charge/discharge rate and long cycle life. Their biggest challenge is the inferior energy density compared to other electrochemical energy storage devices such as batteries. Being the most widely spread type of supercapacitors, electrochemical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) store energy by electrosorption of electrolyte ions on the surface of charged electrodes. As a more recent development, Na-ion capacitors (NICs) are expected to be a more promising tactic to tackle the inferior energy density due to their higher-capacity electrodes and larger operating voltage. The charges are simultaneously stored by ion adsorption on the capacitive-type cathode surface and via faradic process in the battery-type anode, respectively. Porous carbon electrodes are of great importance in these devices, but the paramount problems are the facile synthetic routes for high-performance carbons and the lack of fundamental understanding of the energy storage mechanisms. Therefore, the aim of the present dissertation is to develop novel synthetic methods for (nitrogen-doped) porous carbon materials with superior performance, and to reveal a deeper understanding energy storage mechanisms of EDLCs and NICs.
The first part introduces a novel synthetic method towards hierarchical ordered meso-microporous carbon electrode materials for EDLCs. The large amount of micropores and highly ordered mesopores endow abundant sites for charge storage and efficient electrolyte transport, respectively, giving rise to superior EDLC performance in different electrolytes. More importantly, the controversial energy storage mechanism of EDLCs employing ionic liquid (IL) electrolytes is investigated by employing a series of porous model carbons as electrodes. The results not only allow to conclude on the relations between the porosity and ion transport dynamics, but also deliver deeper insights into the energy storage mechanism of IL-based EDLCs which is different from the one usually dominating in solvent-based electrolytes leading to compression double-layers.
The other part focuses on anodes of NICs, where novel synthesis of nitrogen-rich porous carbon electrodes and their sodium storage mechanism are investigated. Free-standing fibrous nitrogen-doped carbon materials are synthesized by electrospinning using the nitrogen-rich monomer (hexaazatriphenylene-hexacarbonitrile, C18N12) as the precursor followed by condensation at high temperature. These fibers provide superior capacity and desirable charge/discharge rate for sodium storage. This work also allows insights into the sodium storage mechanism in nitrogen-doped carbons. Based on this mechanism, further optimization is done by designing a composite material composed of nitrogen-rich carbon nanoparticles embedded in conductive carbon matrix for a better charge/discharge rate. The energy density of the assembled NICs significantly prevails that of common EDLCs while maintaining the high power density and long cycle life.
Shape-Memory effects of thermoplatic multiblock copolymers with overlapping thermal transitions
(2021)
Conformational transition of peptide-functionalized cryogels enabling shape-memory capability
(2017)
The world energy consumption has constantly increased every year due to economic development and population growth. This inevitably caused vast amount of CO2 emission, and the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere keeps increasing with economic growth. To reduce CO2 emission, various methods have been developed but there are still many bottlenecks to be solved. Solvents easily absorbing CO2 such as monoethanol-amine (MEA) and diethanolamine, for example, have limitations of solvent loss, amine degradation, vulnerability to heat and toxicity, and the high cost of regeneration which is especially caused due to chemisorption process. Though some of these drawbacks can be compensated through physisorption with zeolites and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) by displaying significant adsorption selectivity and capacity even in ambient conditions, limitations for these materials still exist. Zeolites demand relatively high regeneration energy and have limited adsorption kinetics due to the exceptionally narrow pore structure. MOFs have low stability against heat and moisture and high manufacturing cost.
Nanoporous carbons have recently received attention as an attractive functional porous material due to their unique properties. These materials are crucial in many applications of modern science and industry such as water and air purification, catalysis, gas separation, and energy storage/conversion due to their high chemical and thermal stability, and in particular electronic conductivity in combination with high specific surface areas. Nanoporous carbons can be used to adsorb environmental pollutants or small gas molecules such as CO2 and to power electrochemical energy storage devices such as batteries and fuel cells. In all fields, their pore structure or electrical properties can be modified depending on their purposes.
This thesis provides an in-depth look at novel nanoporous carbons from the synthetic and the application point of view. The interplay between pore structure, atomic construction, and the adsorption properties of nanoporous carbon materials are investigated. Novel nanoporous carbon materials are synthesized by using simple precursor molecules containing heteroatoms through a facile
templating method. The affinity, and in turn the adsorption capacity, of carbon materials toward polar gas molecules (CO2 and H2O) is enhanced by the modification of their chemical construction. It is also shown that these properties are important in electrochemical energy storage, here especially for supercapacitors with aqueous electrolytes which are basically based on the physisorption of ions on carbon surfaces. This shows that nanoporous carbons can be a “functional” material with specific physical or chemical interactions with guest species just like zeolites and MOFs.
The synthesis of sp2-conjugated materials with high heteroatom content from a mixture of citrazinic acid and melamine in which heteroatoms are already bonded in specific motives is illustrated. By controlling the removal procedure of the salt-template and the condensation temperature, the role of salts in the formation of porosity and as coordination sites for the stabilization of heteroatoms is proven. A high amount of nitrogen of up to 20 wt. %, oxygen contents of up to 19 wt.%, and a high CO2/N2 selectivity with maximum CO2 uptake at 273 K of 5.31 mmol g–1 are achieved. Besides, the further controlled thermal condensation of precursor molecules and advanced functional properties on applications of the synthesized porous carbons are described. The materials have different porosity and atomic construction exhibiting a high nitrogen content up to 25 wt. % as well as a high porosity with a specific surface area of more than 1800 m2 g−1, and a high performance in selective CO2 gas adsorption of 62.7. These pore structure as well as properties of surface affect to water adsorption with a remarkably high Qst of over 100 kJ mol−1 even higher than that of zeolites or CaCl2 well known as adsorbents. In addition to that, the pore structure of HAT-CN-derived carbon materials during condensation in vacuum is fundamentally understood which is essential to maximize the utilization of porous system in materials showing significant difference in their pore volume of 0.5 cm3 g−1 and 0.25 cm3 g−1 without and with vacuum, respectively.
The molecular designs of heteroatom containing porous carbon derived from abundant and simple molecules are introduced in the presented thesis. Abundant precursors that already containing high amount of nitrogen or oxygen are beneficial to achieve enhanced interaction with adsorptives. The physical and chemical properties of these heteroatom-doped porous carbons are affected by mainly two parameters, that is, the porosity from the pore structure and the polarity from the atomic composition on the surface. In other words, controlling the porosity as well as the polarity of the carbon materials is studied to understand interactions with different guest species which is a fundamental knowledge for the utilization on various applications.
Taking advantage of ATRP and using functionalized initiators, different functionalities were introduced in both α and ω chain-ends of synthetic polymers. These functionalized polymers could then go through modular synthetic pathways such as click cycloaddition (copper-catalyzed or copper-free) or amidation to couple synthetic polymers to other synthetic polymers, biomolecules or silica monoliths. Using this general strategy and designing these co/polymers so that they are thermoresponsive, yet bioinert and biocompatible with adjustable cloud point values (as it is the case in the present thesis), the whole generated system becomes "smart" and potentially applicable in different branches. The applications which were considered in the present thesis were in polymer post-functionalization (in situ functionalization of micellar aggregates with low and high molecular weight molecules), hydrophilic/hydrophobic tuning, chromatography and bioconjugation (enzyme thermoprecipitation and recovery, improvement of enzyme activity). Different α-functionalized co/polymers containing cholesterol moiety, aldehyde, t-Boc protected amine, TMS-protected alkyne and NHS-activated ester were designed and synthesized in this work.
The aim of this thesis is the quantum dynamical study of two examples of scanning tunneling microscope (STM)-controllable, Si(100)(2x1) surface-mounted switches of atomic and molecular scale. The first example considers the switching of single H-atoms between two dangling-bond chemisorption sites on a Si-dimer of the Si(100) surface (Grey et al., 1996). The second system examines the conformational switching of single 1,5-cyclooctadiene molecules chemisorbed on the Si(100) surface (Nacci et al., 2008). The temporal dynamics are provided by the propagation of the density matrix in time via an according set of equations of motion (EQM). The latter are based on the open-system density matrix theory in Lindblad form. First order perturbation theory is used to evaluate those transition rates between vibrational levels of the system part. In order to account for interactions with the surface phonons, two different dissipative models are used, namely the bilinear, harmonic and the Ohmic bath model. IET-induced vibrational transitions in the system are due to the dipole- and the resonance-mechanism. A single surface approach is used to study the influence of dipole scattering and resonance scattering in the below-threshold regime. Further, a second electronic surface was included to study the resonance-induced switching in the above-threshold regime. Static properties of the adsorbate, e.g., potentials and dipole function and potentials, are obtained from quantum chemistry and used within the established quantum dynamical models.
The ongoing trend of miniaturizing multifunctional devices, especially for minimally-invasive medical or sensor applications demands new strategies for designing the required functional polymeric micro-components or micro-devices. Here, polymers, which are capable of active movement, when an external stimulus is applied (e.g. shape-memory polymers), are intensively discussed as promising material candidates for realization of multifunctional micro-components. In this context further research activities are needed to gain a better knowledge about the underlying working principles for functionalization of polymeric micro-scale objects with a shape-memory effect. First reports about electrospun solid microfiber scaffolds, demonstrated a much more pronounced shape-memory effect than their bulk counterparts, indicating the high potential of electrospun micro-objects.
Based on these initial findings this thesis was aimed at exploring whether the alteration of the geometry of micro-scale electrospun polymeric objects can serve as suitable parameter to tailor their shape-memory properties. The central hypothesis was that different geometries should result in different degrees of macromolecular chain orientation in the polymeric micro-scale objects, which will influence their mechanical properties as well as thermally-induced shape-memory function. As electrospun micro-scale objects, microfiber scaffolds composed of hollow microfibers with different wall thickness and electrosprayed microparticles as well as their magneto-sensitive nanocomposites all prepared from the same polymer exhibiting pronounced bulk shape-memory properties were investigated. For this work a thermoplastic multiblock copolymer, named PDC, with excellent bulk shape-memory properties, associated with crystallizable oligo(ε-caprolactone) (OCL) switching domains, was chosen for the preparation of electrospun micro-scale objects, while crystallizable oligo(p-dioxanone) (OPDO) segments serve as hard domains in PDC.
In the first part of the thesis microfiber scaffolds with different microfiber geometries (solid or hollow with different wall thickness) were discussed. Hollow microfiber based PDC scaffolds were prepared by coaxial electrospinning from a 1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 3 hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFP) solution with a polymer concentration of 13% w·v-1. Here as a first step core-shell fiber scaffolds consisting of microfibers with a PDC shell and sacrificial poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) core are generated. The hollow PDC microfibers were achieved after dissolving the PEG core with water. The utilization of a fixed electrospinning setup and the same polymer concentration of the PDC spinning solution could ensure the fabrication of microfibers with almost identical outer diameters of 1.4 ± 0.3 µm as determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Different hollow microfiber wall thicknesses of 0.5 ± 0.2 and 0.3 ± 0.2 µm (analyzed by SEM) have been realized by variation of the mass flow rate, while solid microfibers were obtained by coaxial electrospinning without supplying any core solution. Differential scanning calorimetry experiments and tensile tests at ambient temperature revealed an increase in degree of OCL crystallinity form χc,OCL = 34 ± 1% to 43 ± 1% and a decrease in elongation of break from 800 ± 40% to 200 ± 50% associated with an increase in Young´s modulus and failture stress for PDC hollow microfiber scaffolds when compared with soild fibers. The observed effects were enhanced with decreasing wall thickness of the single hollow fibers. The shape-memory properties of the electrospun PDC scaffolds were quantified by cyclic, thermomechanical tensile tests. Here, scaffolds comprising hollow microfibers exhibited lower shape fixity ratios around Rf = 82 ± 1% and higher shape recovery ratios of Rr = 67 ± 1% associated to more pronounced relaxation at constant strain during the first test cycle and a lower switching temperature of Tsw = 33 ± 1 °C than the fibrous meshes consisting of solid microfibers. These findings strongly support the central hypothesis that different fiber geometries (solid or hollow with different wall thickness) in electrospun scaffolds result in different degrees of macromolecular chain orientation in the polymeric micro-scale objects, which can be applied as design parameter for tailoring their mechanical and shape-memory properties.
The second part of the thesis deals with electrosprayed particulate PDC micro-scale objects. Almost spherical PDC microparticles with diameters of 3.9 ± 0.9 μm (as determined by SEM) were achieved by electrospraying of HFP solution with a polymer concentration of 2% w·v-1. In contrast, smaller particles with sizes of 400 ± 100 nm or 1.2 ± 0.3 μm were obtained for the magneto-sensitive composite PDC microparticles containing 23 ± 0.5 wt% superparamagnetic magnetite nanoparticles (mNPs). All prepared PDC microparticles exhibited a similar overall crystallinity like the PDC bulk material as analyzed by DSC. AFM nanoindentation results revealed no influence of the nanofiller incorporation on the local mechanical properties represented by the reduced modulus determined for pure PDC microparticles and magneto-sensitive composite PDC microparticles with similar diameters around 1.3 µm. It was found that the reduced modulus of the nanocomposite microparticles increased substantially with decreasing particles size from 2.4 ± 0.9 GPa (1.2 µm) to 11.9 ± 3.1 GPa (0.4 µm), which can be related to a higher orientation of the macromolecules at the surface of smaller sized microparticles. The magneto-sensitivity of such nanocomposite microparticles could be demonstrated in two aspects. One was by attracting/collecting the composite micro-objects with an external permanent magnet. The other one was by a inductive heating to 44 ± 1 °C, which is well above the melting transition of the OCL switching domains, when compacted to a 10 x 10 mm2 film with a thickness of 10 µm and exposed to an alternating magnet field with an magnetic field strength of 30 kA·m-1. Both functions are of great relevance for designing next generation drug delivery systems combining targeting and on demand release.
By a compression approach shape-memory functionalization of individual microparticles could be realized. Here different programming pressures and compression temperatures were applied. The shape-recovery capability of the programmed PDC microparticles was quantified by online and off-line heating experiments analyzed via microscopy measurement. The obtained shape-memory properties were found to be strongly depending on the applied programming pressure and temperature. The best shape-memory performance with a high shape recovery rate of about Rr = 80±1% was obtained when a low pressure of 0.2 MPa was applied at 55 °C. Finally, it was demonstrated that PDC microparticles can be utilized as micro building parts for preparation of a macroscopic film with temporary stability by compression of a densely packed array of PDC microparticles at 60 °C followed by subsequent cooling to ambient temperature. This film disintegrates into individual microparticles upon heating to 60 °C. Based on this technology the design of stable macroscopic release systems can be envisioned, which can be easily fixed at the site of treatment (i.e. by suturing) and disintegrate on demand to microparticles facilitating the drug release.
In summary, the results of this thesis could confirm the central hypothesis that the variation of the geometry of polymeric micro-objects is a suitable parameter to adjust their shape-memory performance by changing the degree of macromolecular chain orientation in the specimens or by enabling new functions like on demand disintegration. These fundamental findings might be relevant for designing novel miniaturized multifunctional polymer-based devices.
This thesis covers the synthesis of conjugates of 2-Deoxy-D-ribose-5-phosphate aldolase (DERA) with suitable polymers and the subsequent immobilization of these conjugates in thin films via two different approaches.
2-Deoxy-D-ribose-5-phosphate aldolase (DERA) is a biocatalyst that is capable of converting acetaldehyde and a second aldehyde as acceptor into enantiomerically pure mono- and diyhydroxyaldehydes, which are important structural motifs in a number of pharmaceutically active compounds. Conjugation and immobilization renders the enzyme applicable for utilization in a continuously run biocatalytic process which avoids the common problem of product inhibition. Within this thesis, conjugates of DERA and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm) for immobilization via a self-assembly approach were synthesized and isolated, as well as conjugates with poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) (PDMAA) for a simplified and scalable spray-coating approach. For the DERA/PNIPAm-conjugates different synthesis routes were tested, including grafting-from and grafting-to, both being common methods for the conjugation. Furthermore, both lysines and cysteines were addressed for the conjugation in order to find optimum conjugation conditions. It turned out that conjugation via lysine causes severe activity loss as one lysine plays a key role in the catalyzing mechanism. The conjugation via the cysteines by a grafting-to approach using pyridyl disulfide (PDS) end-group functionalized polymers led to high conjugation efficiencies in the presence of polymer solubilizing NaSCN. The resulting conjugates maintained enzymatic activity and also gained high acetaldehyde tolerance which is necessary for their use later on in an industrial relevant process after their immobilization.
The resulting DERA/PNIPAm conjugates exhibited enhanced interfacial activity at the air/water interface compared to the single components, which is an important pre-requisite for the immobilization via the self-assembly approach. Conjugates with longer polymer chains formed homogeneous films on silicon wafers and glass slides while the ones with short chains could only form isolated aggregates. On top of that, long chain conjugates showed better activity maintenance upon the immobilization.
The crosslinking of conjugates, as well as their fixation on the support materials, are important for the mechanical stability of the films obtained from the self-assembly process. Therefore, in a second step, we introduced the UV-crosslinkable monomer DMMIBA to the PNIPAm polymers to be used for conjugation. The introduction of DMMIBA reduced the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the polymer and thus the water solubility at ambient conditions, resulting in lower conjugation efficiencies and in turn slightly poorer acetaldehyde tolerance of the resulting conjugates. Unlike the DERA/PNIPAm, the conjugates from the copolymer P(NIPAM-co-DMMIBA) formed continuous, homogenous films only after the crosslinking step via UV-treatment. For a firm binding of the crosslinked films, a functionalization protocol for the model support material cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) and the final target support, PAN based membranes, was developed that introduces analogue UV-reactive groups to the support surface. The conjugates immobilized on the modified COC films maintained enzymatic activity and showed good mechanical stability after several cycles of activity assessment. Conjugates with longer polymer chains, however, showed a higher degree of crosslinking after the UV-treatment leading to a pronounced loss of activity. A porous PAN membrane onto which the conjugates were immobilized as well, was finally transferred to a dead end filtration membrane module to catalyze the aldol reaction of the industrially relevant mixture of acetaldehyde and hexanal in a continuous mode. Mono aldol product was detectable, but yields were comparably low and the operational stability needs to be further improved
Another approach towards immobilization of DERA conjugates that was followed, was to generate the conjugates in situ by simply mixing enzyme and polymer and spray coat the mixture onto the membrane support. Compared to the previous approach, the focus was more put on simplicity and a possible scalability of the immobilization. Conjugates were thus only generated in-situ and not further isolated and characterized. For the conjugation, PDMAA equipped with N-2-thiolactone acrylamide (TlaAm) side chains was used, an amine-reactive comonomer that can react with the lysine residues of DERA, as well as with amino groups introduced to a desired support surface. Furthermore disulfide formation after hydrolysis of the Tla groups causes a crosslinking effect. The synthesized copolymer poly(N,N-Dimethylacrylamide-co-N-2-thiolactone acrylamide) (P(DMAA-co-TlaAm)) thus serves a multiple purpose including protein binding, crosslinking and binding to support materials. The mixture of DERA and polymer could be immobilized on the PAN support by spray-coating under partial maintenance of enzymatic activity. To improve the acetaldehyde tolerance, the polymer in used was further equipped with cysteine reactive PDS end-groups that had been used for the conjugation as described in the first part of the thesis. The generated conjugates indeed showed good acetaldehyde tolerance and were thus used to be coated onto PAN membrane supports. Post treatment with a basic aqueous solution of H2O2 was supposed to further crosslink the spray-coated film hydrolysis and oxidation of the thiolactone groups. However, a washing off of the material was observed. Optimization is thus still necessary.
This thesis focuses on the synthesis of novel functional materials based on plasmonic nanoparticles. Three systems with targeted surface modification and functionalization have been designed and synthesized, involving modified perylenediimide doped silica-coated silver nanowires, polydopamine or TiO2 coated gold-palladium nanorods and thiolated poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG-SH)/dodecanethiol (DDT) modified silver nanospheres. Their possible applications as plasmonic resonators, chiral sensors as well as photo-catalysts have been studied. In addition, the interaction between silver nanospheres and 2,3,5,6-Tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4TCNQ) molecules has also been investigated in detail.
In the first part of the thesis, surface modification on Ag nanowires (NWs) with optimized silica coating through a modified Stöber method has been firstly conducted, employing sodium hydroxide (NaOH) to replace ammonia solution (NH4OH). The coated silver nanowires with a smooth silica shell have been investigated by single-particle dark-field scattering spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and electron-energy loss spectroscopy to characterize the morphologies and structural components. The silica-coated silver nanowires can be further functionalized with fluorescent molecules in the silica shell via a facile one-step coating method. The as-synthesized nanowire is further coupled with a gold nanosphere by spin-coating for the application of the sub-diffractional chiral sensor for the first time. The exciton-plasmon-photon interconversion in the system eases the signal detection in the perfectly matched 1D nanostructure and contributes to the high contrast of the subwavelength chiral sensing for the polarized light.
In the second part of the thesis, dumbbell-shaped Au-Pd nanorods coated with a layer of polydopamine (PDA) or titanium dioxide (TiO2) have been constructed. The PDA- and TiO2- coated Au-Pd nanorods show a strong photothermal conversion performance under NIR illumination. Moreover, the catalytic performance of the particles has been investigated using the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) as the model reaction. Under light irradiation, the PDA-coated Au-Pd nanorods exhibit a superior catalytic activity by increasing the reaction rate constant of 3 times. The Arrhenius-like behavior of the reaction with similar activation energies in the presence and absence of light irradiation indicates the photoheating effect to be the dominant mechanism of the reaction acceleration. Thus, we attribute the enhanced performance of the catalysis to the strong photothermal effect that is driven by the optical excitation of the gold surface plasmon as well as the synergy with the PDA layer.
In the third part, the kinetic study on the adsorption of 2,3,5,6-Tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquino-dimethane (F4TCNQ) on the surface of Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) in chloroform has been reported in detail. Based on the results obtained from the UV-vis-NIR absorption spectroscopy, cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM), scanning nano-beam electron diffraction (NBED) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), a two-step interaction kinetics has been proposed for the Ag NPs and F4TCNQ molecules. It includes the first step of electron transfer from Ag NPs to F4TCNQ indicated by the ionization of F4TCNQ, and the second step of the formation of Ag-F4TCNQ complex. The whole process has been followed via UV-vis-NIR absorption spectroscopy, which reveals distinct kinetics at two stages: the instantaneous ionization and the long-term complex formation. The kinetics and the influence of the molar ratio of Ag NPs/F4TCNQ molecules on the interaction between Ag NPs and F4TCNQ molecules in the organic solution are reported herein for the first time. Furthermore, the control experiment with silica-coated Ag NPs indicates that the charge transfer at the surface between Ag NPs and F4TCNQ molecules has been prohibited by a silica layer of 18 nm.
Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death worldwide, and their prevalence is expected to rise in the coming years. Polymer-based artificial replacements have been widely used for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Coagulation and thrombus formation on the interfaces between the materials and the human physiological environment are key issues leading to the failure of the medical device in clinical implantation. The surface properties of the materials have a strong influence on the protein adsorption and can direct the blood cell adhesion behavior on the interfaces. Furthermore, implant-associated infections will be induced by bacterial adhesion and subsequent biofilm formation at the implantation site. Thus, it is important to improve the hemocompatibility of an implant by altering the surface properties. One of the effective strategies is surface passivation to achieve protein/cell repelling ability to reduce the risk of thrombosis.
This thesis consists of synthesis, functionalization, sterilization, and biological evaluation of bulk poly(glycerol glycidyl ether) (polyGGE), which is a highly crosslinked polyether-based polymer synthesized by cationic ring-opening polymerization. PolyGGE is hypothesized to be able to resist plasma protein adsorption and bacterial adhesion due to analogous chemical structure as polyethylene glycol and hyperbranched polyglycerol. Hydroxyl end groups of polyGGE provide possibilities to be functionalized with sulfates to mimic the anti-thrombogenic function of the endothelial glycocalyx.
PolyGGE was synthesized by polymerization of the commercially available monomer glycerol glycidyl ether, which was characterized as a mixture of mono-, di- and tri-glycidyl ether. Cationic ring opening-polymerization of this monomer was carried out by ultraviolet (UV) initiation of the photo-initiator diphenyliodonium hexafluorophosphate. With the increased UV curing time, more epoxides in the side chains of the monomers participated in chemical crosslinking, resulting in an increase of Young’s modulus, while the value of elongation at break of polyGGE first increased due to the propagation of the polymer chains then decreased with the increase of crosslinking density. Eventually, the chain propagation can be effectively terminated by potassium hydroxide aqueous solution. PolyGGE exhibited different tensile properties in hydrated conditions at body temperature compared to the values in the dry state at room temperature. Both Young’s modulus and values of elongation at break were remarkably reduced when tested in water at 37 °C, which was above the glass transition temperature of polyGGE. At physiological conditions, entanglements of the ployGGE networks unfolded and the free volume of networks were replaced by water molecules as softener, which increased the mobility of the polymer chains, resulting in a lower Young’s modulus.
Protein adsorption analysis was performed on polyGGE films with 30 min UV curing using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. PolyGGE could effectively prevent the adsorption of human plasma fibrinogen, albumin, and fibronectin at the interface of human plasma and polyGGE films. The protein resistance of polyGGE was comparable to the negative controls: the hemocompatible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), showing its potential as a coating material for cardiovascular implants. Moreover, antimicrobial tests of bacterial activity using isothermal microcalorimetry and the microscopic image of direct bacteria culturing demonstrated that polyGGE could directly interfere biofilm formation and growth of both Gram-negative and antibiotic-resistant Gram-positive bacteria, indicating the potential application of polyGGE for combating the risk of hospital-acquired infections and preventing drug-resistant superbug spreading.
To investigate its cell compatibility, polyGGE films were extracted by different solvents (ethanol, chloroform, acetone) and cell culture medium. Indirect cytotoxicity tests showed extracted polyGGE films still had toxic effects on L929 fibroblast cells. High-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry revealed the occurrence of organochlorine-containing compounds released during the polymer-cell culture medium interaction. A constant level of those organochlorine-containing compounds was confirmed from GGE monomer by a specific peak of C-Cl stretching in infrared spectra of GGE. This is assumed to be the main reason causing the increased cell membrane permeability and decreased metabolic activity, leading to cell death. Attempts as changing solvents were made to remove toxic substances, however, the release of these small molecules seems to be sluggish. The densely crosslinked polyGGE networks can possibly contribute to the trapping of organochlorine-containing compounds. These results provide valuable information for exploring the potentially toxic substances, leaching from polyGGE networks, and propose a feasible strategy for minimizing the cytotoxicity via reducing their crosslinking density.
Sulfamic acid/ N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) were selected as the reagents for the sulfation of polyGGE surfaces. Fourier transform attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FT-IR) was used to monitor the functionalization kinetics and the results confirmed the successful sulfate grafting on the surface of polyGGE with the covalent bond -C-O-S-. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to determine the element composition on the surface and the cross-section of the functionalized polyGGE and sulfation within 15 min guarantees the sulfation only takes place on the surface while not occurring in the bulk of the polymer. The concentration of grafted sulfates increased with the increasing reaction time. The hydrophilicity of the surface of polyGGE was highly increased due to the increase of negatively charged end groups. Three sterilization techniques including autoclaving, gamma irradiation, and ethylene oxide (EtO) sterilization were used for polyGGE sulfates. Results from ATR-FT-IR and Toluidine Blue O quantitative assay demonstrated the total loss of the sulfates after autoclave sterilization, which was also confirmed by the increased water contact angle. Little influence on the concentration of sulfates was found for gamma-irradiated and autoclaving sterilized polyGGE sulfates. To investigate the thermal influence on polyGGE sulfates, one strategy was to use poly(hydroxyethyl acrylate) sulfates (PHEAS) for modeling. The thermogravimetric analysis profile of PHEAS demonstrated that sulfates are not thermally stable independent of the substrate materials and decomposition of sulfates occurs at around 100 °C. Although gamma irradiation also showed little negative effect on the sulfate content, the color change in the polyGGE sulfates indicates chemical or physical change might occur in the polymer. EtO sterilization was validated as the most suitable sterilization technique to maintain the chemical structure of polyGGE sulfates.
In conclusion, the conducted work proved that bulk polyGGE can be used as an antifouling coating material and shows its antimicrobial potential. Sulfates functionalization can be effectively realized using sulfamic acid/NMP. EtO sterilization is the most suitable sterilization technique for grafted sulfates. Besides, this thesis also offers a good strategy for the analysis of toxic leachable substances using suitable physicochemical characterization techniques. Future work will focus on minimizing/eliminating the release of toxic substances via reducing the crosslinking density. Another interesting aspect is to study whether grafted sulfates can meet the need for anti-thrombogenicity.
This research addressed the question, if it is possible to simplify current microcontact printing systems for the production of anisotropic building blocks or patchy particles, by using common chemicals while still maintaining reproducibility, high precision and tunability of the Janus-balance
Chapter 2 introduced the microcontact printing materials as well as their defined electrostatic interactions. In particular polydimethylsiloxane stamps, silica particles and high molecular weight polyethylenimine ink were mainly used in this research. All of these components are commercially available in large quantities and affordable, which gives this approach a huge potential for further up-scaling developments. The benefits of polymeric over molecular inks was described including its flexible influence on the printing pressure. With this alteration of the µCP concept, a new method of solvent assisted particle release mechanism enabled the switch from two-dimensional surface modification to three-dimensional structure printing on colloidal silica particles, without changing printing parameters or starting materials. This effect opened the way to use the internal volume of the achieved patches for incorporation of nano additives, introducing additional physical properties into the patches without alteration of the surface chemistry.
The success of this system and its achievable range was further investigated in chapter 3 by giving detailed information about patch geometry parameters including diameter, thickness and yield. For this purpose, silica particles in a size range between 1µm and 5µm were printed with different ink concentrations to change the Janus-balance of these single patched particles. A necessary intermediate step, consisting of air-plasma treatment, for the production of trivalent particles using "sandwich" printing was discovered and comparative studies concerning the patch geometry of single and double patched particles were conducted. Additionally, the usage of structured PDMS stamps during printing was described. These results demonstrate the excellent precision of this approach and opens the pathway for even greater accuracy as further parameters can be finely tuned and investigated, e.g. humidity and temperature during stamp loading.
The performance of these synthesized anisotropic colloids was further investigated in chapter 4, starting with behaviour studies in alcoholic and aqueous dispersions. Here, the stability of the applied patches was studied in a broad pH range, discovering a release mechanism by disabling the electrostatic bonding between particle surface and polyelectrolyte ink. Furthermore, the absence of strong attractive forces between divalent particles in water was investigated using XPS measurements. These results lead to the conclusion that the transfer of small PDMS oligomers onto the patch surface is shielding charges, preventing colloidal agglomeration. However, based on this knowledge, further patch modifications for particle self-assembly were introduced including physical approaches using magnetic nano additives, chemical patch functionalization with avidin-biotin or the light responsive cyclodextrin-arylazopyrazoles coupling as well as particle surface modification for the synthesis of highly amphiphilic colloids. The successful coupling, its efficiency, stability and behaviour in different solvents were evaluated to find a suitable coupling system for future assembly experiments. Based on these results the possibility of more sophisticated structures by colloidal self-assembly is given.
Certain findings needed further analysis to understand their underlying mechanics, including the relatively broad patch diameter distribution and the decreasing patch thickness for smaller silica particles. Mathematical assumptions for both effects are introduced in chapter 5. First, they demonstrate the connection between the naturally occurring particle size distribution and the broadening of the patch diameter, indicating an even higher precision for this µCP approach. Second, explaining the increase of contact area between particle and ink surface due to higher particle packaging, leading to a decrease in printing pressure for smaller particles.
These calculations ultimately lead to the development of a new mechanical microcontact printing approach, using centrifugal forces for high pressure control and excellent parallel alignment of printing substrates. First results with this device and the comparison with previously conducted by-hand experiments conclude this research. It furthermore displays the advantages of such a device for future applications using a mechanical printing approach, especially for accessing even smaller nano particles with great precision and excellent yield.
In conclusion, this work demonstrates the successful adjustment of the µCP approach using commercially available and affordable silica particles and polyelectrolytes for high flexibility, reduced costs and higher scale-up value. Furthermore, its was possible to increase the modification potential by introducing three-dimensional patches for additional functionalization volume. While keeping a high colloidal stability, different coupling systems showed the self-assembly capabilities of this toolbox for anisotropic particles.