Effect of Temperature on Morphology of Glycidyl Methacrylate Polymerized via Liquid Crystal-Templated Initiated Chemical Vapor Deposition

Student’s name: Imrie Ross Home Institution: University of Georgia NNCI Site: Cornell NanoScale Facility @ Cornell University REU PI: Dr. Nicholas Abbott and Dr. Rong Yang Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University REU Mentors: Soumyamouli Pal and Shiqi Li Abstract: Nanoparticle morphology highly influences particle properties and is a crucial parameter to manipulate. The ability to create designed polymer particle shapes would greatly benefit many applications, including timed drug delivery. Using liquid crystal (LC)- templated initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD), we have successfully polymerized a range of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) nanoparticle morphologies in a one-step, one-pot process. Multiple temperatures can be achieved in one polymerization by leveraging a temperature gradient placed directly on the reactor stage, and different GMA particle morphologies have been observed for the various temperatures achieved. The E7 LCs are sensitive to temperature, and their phase will transition from the nematic phase to the isotropic if the temperature is too high; at this point, the templating effect no longer exists. We have investigated the effect of temperature on the rate of evaporation and phase change of the LCs using a long-distance focal microscope. The microscope also allows for in situ monitoring of the polymerization. Using a set of controls and experiments, we have mapped a set of reactor conditions where temperature solely influences the progression of GMA particle morphology, allowing us to study how the morphology emerges with higher temperatures. The particle morphologies have been characterized using the Cornell NanoScale Facility Zeiss scanning electron microscopes. We have seen the emergence of larger, rod-like particles as temperature increases with orientations influenced by the templating effect of the LC.