The influence of ambient cure chemistry and stoichiometry on epoxy coating surfaces (2022)
Journal Article
Bannister, C., Guy, A., Mihaylova, R., Orgill, J., Burg, S. L., Parnell, A., & Thompson, R. L. (2022). The influence of ambient cure chemistry and stoichiometry on epoxy coating surfaces. RSC Advances, 12(44), 28746-28754. https://doi.org/10.1039/d2ra05067f

The surface properties of epoxy resin coatings influence their function as substrates for subsequent coats. Variation in ambient cure conditions (temperature and relative humidity, RH), stoichiometry (ratio of epoxy: amine) and delay time between epo... Read More about The influence of ambient cure chemistry and stoichiometry on epoxy coating surfaces.

Modulated Fluorescence in LB Films Based on DADQs—A Potential Sensing Surface? (2022)
Journal Article
Szablewski, M., Thompson, R. L., & Pålsson, L. (2022). Modulated Fluorescence in LB Films Based on DADQs—A Potential Sensing Surface?. Molecules, 27(12), Article 3893. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27123893

Novel fluorescent Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films have been constructed from three different amphiphilic dicynaoquinodimethanes (DADQs). The DADQs varied in functional group structure, which had an impact on the LB film structure and the fluorescence pr... Read More about Modulated Fluorescence in LB Films Based on DADQs—A Potential Sensing Surface?.

Tuning the Bulk and Surface Properties of PDMS Networks through Cross-Linker and Surfactant Concentration (2021)
Journal Article
Litwinowicz, M., Rogers, S., Caruana, A., Kinane, C., Tellam, J., & Thompson, R. (2021). Tuning the Bulk and Surface Properties of PDMS Networks through Cross-Linker and Surfactant Concentration. Macromolecules, 54(20), https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.1c01600

The elastic modulus and hydrophilicity of cross-linked poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) are tunable via cross-linker concentration and the addition of a simple surfactant, C12E4, before curing. However, the surfactant concentration, [C12E4], reduces the... Read More about Tuning the Bulk and Surface Properties of PDMS Networks through Cross-Linker and Surfactant Concentration.

Water-Resistant Surface Modification of Hydrophobic Polymers with Water-Soluble Surfactant Additives (2021)
Journal Article
Gibson, C. P., Litwinowicz, M. A., Tellam, J. P., Welbourn, R. J., Skoda, M. W., Claussen, J., & Thompson, R. L. (2021). Water-Resistant Surface Modification of Hydrophobic Polymers with Water-Soluble Surfactant Additives. Polymers, 13(19), Article 3407. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13193407

Water-soluble nonionic surfactant, pentaethylene glycol monododecyl ether, C12E5 , spontaneously blooms to the surface of spin-cast hydrophobic polyisoprenes, generating hydrophilic surfaces. This system provides a simple model for hydrophilic chemic... Read More about Water-Resistant Surface Modification of Hydrophobic Polymers with Water-Soluble Surfactant Additives.

Synthesis and characterisation of a mussel-inspired hydrogel film coating for biosensors (2021)
Journal Article
Millican, J. M., Bittrich, E., Caspari, A., Pöschel, K., Drechsler, A., Freudenberg, U., …Hutchings, L. R. (2021). Synthesis and characterisation of a mussel-inspired hydrogel film coating for biosensors. European Polymer Journal, 153, Article 110503. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2021.110503

Mussel-inspired, catechol-containing monomers are being increasingly utilised to design versatile, adhesive, functional copolymers. This work reports the synthesis and detailed characterisation of a novel terpolymer comprising dopamine methacrylamide... Read More about Synthesis and characterisation of a mussel-inspired hydrogel film coating for biosensors.

Chain-stretch relaxation from low-frequency Fourier transform rheology (2020)
Journal Article
Reynolds, C., Hoyle, D., McLeish, T., & Thompson, R. (2020). Chain-stretch relaxation from low-frequency Fourier transform rheology. Physical Review Research, 2(3), Article 033457. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevresearch.2.033457

Medium- or large-amplitude oscillatory shear (MAOS and LAOS, respectively) is sensitive to polymer chain structure, yet poses unsolved challenges for a priori structural characterization. We present a MAOS protocol applied to near-monodisperse linear... Read More about Chain-stretch relaxation from low-frequency Fourier transform rheology.

Shear processing maps: a new design guide for melt processors (2020)
Journal Article
Robertson, B., Robinson, I. M., Stocks, D., & Thompson, R. L. (2022). Shear processing maps: a new design guide for melt processors. Plastics, Rubber and Composites, 51(5), 217-239. https://doi.org/10.1080/14658011.2020.1796082

A method for predicting the optimal conditions for polymer extrusion, which relies only on gramscale laboratory experiments for two commercial polystyrene samples with two molecular weights is demonstrated by oscillatory rheology. These enable a shea... Read More about Shear processing maps: a new design guide for melt processors.

Oligomer/polymer blend phase diagram and surface concentration profiles for squalane/polybutadiene: experimental measurements and predictions from SAFT-g Mie and molecular dynamics simulations (2020)
Journal Article
Tasche, J., Sabattie, E. F., Thompson, R. L., Campana, M., & Wilson, M. R. (2020). Oligomer/polymer blend phase diagram and surface concentration profiles for squalane/polybutadiene: experimental measurements and predictions from SAFT-g Mie and molecular dynamics simulations. Macromolecules, 53(7), 2309-2309. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.9b02155

The compatibility and surface behavior of squalane–polybutadiene mixtures are studied by experimental cloud point and neutron reflectivity measurements, statistical associating fluid theory (SAFT), and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. A SAFT-γ Mi... Read More about Oligomer/polymer blend phase diagram and surface concentration profiles for squalane/polybutadiene: experimental measurements and predictions from SAFT-g Mie and molecular dynamics simulations.

Segregation of Amine Oxide Surfactants in PVA Films (2020)
Journal Article
Fong, R., Squillace, O., Reynolds, C., Cooper, J., Dalgliesh, R. M., Tellam, J., …Thompson, R. L. (2020). Segregation of Amine Oxide Surfactants in PVA Films. Langmuir, 36(17), 4795-4807. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.0c00084

The vertical depth distributions of amine oxide surfactants, N,N-dimethyldodecyl amine N-oxide (DDAO) and N,N-dimethyltetradecyl amine N-oxide (DTAO), in poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) films were explored using neutron reflectometry (NR). In both binary a... Read More about Segregation of Amine Oxide Surfactants in PVA Films.

Influence of PVAc/PVA Hydrolysis on Additive Surface Activity (2020)
Journal Article
Squillace, O., Fong, R., Shepherd, O., Hind, J., Tellam, J., Steinke, N., & Thompson, R. L. (2020). Influence of PVAc/PVA Hydrolysis on Additive Surface Activity. Polymers, 12(1), Article 205. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12010205

This aims to establish design rules for the influence of complex polymer matrices on the surface properties of small molecules. Here, we consider the dependence of the surface behaviour of some model additives on polymer matrix hydrophobicity. With s... Read More about Influence of PVAc/PVA Hydrolysis on Additive Surface Activity.

Association and Relaxation of Supra-Macromolecular Polymers (2019)
Journal Article
Boothroyd, S., Hoyle, D., McLeish, T., Munch, E., Schach, R., Smith, A., & Thompson, R. (2019). Association and Relaxation of Supra-Macromolecular Polymers. Soft Matter, 15(26), 5296-5307. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8sm02580k

This paper describes the structures created by assembling functionalised entangled polymers and the effect these have on the rheology of the material. A polybutadiene (PBd) linear polymer precursor of sufficient molecular weight to be entangled is us... Read More about Association and Relaxation of Supra-Macromolecular Polymers.

Braiding, branching and chiral amplification of nanofibres in supramolecular gels (2019)
Journal Article
Jones, C. D., Simmons, H. T., Horner, K. E., Liu, K., Thompson, R. L., & Steed, J. W. (2019). Braiding, branching and chiral amplification of nanofibres in supramolecular gels. Nature Chemistry, 11, 375-381. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-019-0222-0

Helical nanofibres play key roles in many biological processes. Entanglements between helices can aid gelation by producing thick, interconnected fibres, but the details of this process are poorly understood. Here, we describe the assembly of an achi... Read More about Braiding, branching and chiral amplification of nanofibres in supramolecular gels.

Polymer extrudate-swell: From monodisperse melts to polydispersity and flow-induced reduction in monomer friction (2019)
Journal Article
Robertson, B., Thompson, R. L., McLeish, T. C., & Robinson, I. (2019). Polymer extrudate-swell: From monodisperse melts to polydispersity and flow-induced reduction in monomer friction. Journal of Rheology, 63(2), 319-333. https://doi.org/10.1122/1.5058207

This paper describes finite-element simulations and associated experimental studies of extrudate swell for near-monodisperse and polydisperse polystyrenes. The tube-model based Rolie-Poly constitutive model, when extended to include a reduction of mo... Read More about Polymer extrudate-swell: From monodisperse melts to polydispersity and flow-induced reduction in monomer friction.

The impact of plasticizer and degree of hydrolysis on free volume of poly (vinyl alcohol) films (2018)
Journal Article
Fong, R. J., Robertson, A., Mallon, P. E., & Thompson, R. L. (2018). The impact of plasticizer and degree of hydrolysis on free volume of poly (vinyl alcohol) films. Polymers, 10(9), Article 1036. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym10091036

The effect of plasticizer species and the degree of hydrolysis (DH) on the free volume properties of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) were studied using positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy. Both glycerol and propylene glycol caused an increase in th... Read More about The impact of plasticizer and degree of hydrolysis on free volume of poly (vinyl alcohol) films.

Pressure and shear rate dependence of the viscosity and stress relaxation of polymer melts (2018)
Journal Article
Reynolds, C., Thompson, R., & McLeish, T. (2018). Pressure and shear rate dependence of the viscosity and stress relaxation of polymer melts. Journal of Rheology, 62(2), 631-642. https://doi.org/10.1122/1.5012969

The pressure dependencies of polymer viscosity and stress relaxation are an important but often overlooked aspect of the material processing and postprocessing properties. We show how these dependencies can be isolated in a single measurement and can... Read More about Pressure and shear rate dependence of the viscosity and stress relaxation of polymer melts.

Controlled Structure Evolution of Graphene Networks in Polymer Composites (2018)
Journal Article
Boothroyd, S. C., Johnson, D. W., Weir, M. P., Reynolds, C. D., Hart, J. M., Smith, A. J., …Coleman, K. S. (2018). Controlled Structure Evolution of Graphene Networks in Polymer Composites. Chemistry of Materials, 30(5), 1524-1531. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b04343

Exploiting graphene’s exceptional physical properties in polymer composites is a significant challenge because of the difficulty in controlling the graphene conformation and dispersion. Reliable processing of graphene polymer composites with uniform... Read More about Controlled Structure Evolution of Graphene Networks in Polymer Composites.

Blooming of Smectic Surfactant/Plasticizer Layers on Spin-Cast Poly(vinyl alcohol) Films (2018)
Journal Article
Briddick, A., Fong, R. J., Sabattié, E. F., Li, P., Skoda, M. W., Courchay, F., & Thompson, R. L. (2018). Blooming of Smectic Surfactant/Plasticizer Layers on Spin-Cast Poly(vinyl alcohol) Films. Langmuir, 34(4), 1410-1418. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.7b04046

The blooming of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and the influence of plasticizer (glycerol) on the surfactant distribution in poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) films have been explored by neutron reflectometry (NR) and ion beam analysis techniques. When in bina... Read More about Blooming of Smectic Surfactant/Plasticizer Layers on Spin-Cast Poly(vinyl alcohol) Films.

Theoretical prediction and experimental measurement of isothermal extrudate swell of monodisperse and bidisperse polystyrenes (2017)
Journal Article
Robertson, B., Thompson, R. L., McLeish, T. C., & Robinson, I. (2017). Theoretical prediction and experimental measurement of isothermal extrudate swell of monodisperse and bidisperse polystyrenes. Journal of Rheology, 61(5), 931-945. https://doi.org/10.1122/1.4995603

This paper describes the theoretical prediction, finite element simulation, and experimental studies of extrudate swell in monodisperse and bidisperse polystyrenes. We present a molecular approach to understanding extrudate swell using the tube-model... Read More about Theoretical prediction and experimental measurement of isothermal extrudate swell of monodisperse and bidisperse polystyrenes.

Predicting Oligomer/Polymer Compatibility and its Impact on Nanoscale Segregation in Thin Films (2017)
Journal Article
Sabattié, E., Tasche, J., Wilson, M. R., Skoda, M. W., Hughes, A. V., Lindner, T., & Thompson, R. (2017). Predicting Oligomer/Polymer Compatibility and its Impact on Nanoscale Segregation in Thin Films. Soft Matter, 13(19), 3580-3591. https://doi.org/10.1039/c7sm00048k

Compatibility between oligomers and polymers was systematically assessed using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and correlated with similarity in saturation and solubility parameter. These measurements enabled validation of detailed volume of... Read More about Predicting Oligomer/Polymer Compatibility and its Impact on Nanoscale Segregation in Thin Films.

Understanding and controlling morphology evolution via DIO plasticization in PffBT4T-2OD/PC71BM devices (2017)
Journal Article
Zhang, Y., Parnell, A. J., Pontecchiani, F., Cooper, J. F., Thompson, R. L., Jones, R. A., …Bernardo, G. (2017). Understanding and controlling morphology evolution via DIO plasticization in PffBT4T-2OD/PC71BM devices. Scientific Reports, 7, Article 44269. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep44269

We demonstrate that the inclusion of a small amount of the co-solvent 1,8-diiodooctane in the preparation of a bulk-heterojunction photovoltaic device increases its power conversion efficiency by 20%, through a mechanism of transient plasticisation.... Read More about Understanding and controlling morphology evolution via DIO plasticization in PffBT4T-2OD/PC71BM devices.