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project-maestro

Project NCN MAESTRO (leader: prof. Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, from 01.07.2020 prof. Jacek Ulanski)

Project UMO-2014/14/A/ST5/00204 „Nanomaterials with precisely tailored architecture – design, synthesis, properties” was realized in Department of Molecular Physics TUL at 2015-2022.

Nowadays, the ability to precisely design complex macromolecules (their size, shape, chemical composition, functionality, etc.) provides new possibilities for the synthesis of nanoparticles (NPs) using such macromolecules as unimolecular templates (nanoreactors). In this project, polymers with a star and brush architecture were used as templates for the synthesis of NPs. Linear block copolymers were also used as the corresponding templates. The additional advantage of polymeric templates is the enhanced stabilization of NPs, improving their dispersibility in various matrices and also fine tuning of many properties of the resulting nanocomposites by simple chemical modification. The properties of various types of particles, with surfaces decorated with well-defined copolymers were precisely studied. As a result, numerous hybrid nanomaterials with a wide range of targeted properties were prepared.

The properties of polymer brushes at the molecular level and the gelation process were investigated using computer simulations. The main objective of the research was to establish the correlation between the synthetic conditions and the structure of individual polymer chains (taking into account the kinetics of layer growth), and the morphology and properties of the obtained layers. In each case, degrees of polymerization, molecular weight distributions, chain end distances, and distributions of polymer chain ends concentration variation were determined. The synthetic conditions and properties of the brushes have been carefully studied. The simulations were carried out for systems with varied geometries: flat surfaces, concave cylindrical or spherical pores, and also convex surface of nanoparticles. One of the basic computer simulation tools, the Monte Carlo method, was used as the experimental method. The obtained information revealed how the brush synthesis process can be modified in order to obtain a product with a specific molecular architecture and targeted properties.

The titanium oxide-containing hybrid nanocomposites were used to modify the dielectric layer of organic field effect transistors. A significant effect of even a small amount of nanoparticle addition on the surface properties of the dielectric layer was discovered. This allowed to produce ultra-thin, continuous layers of organic semiconductor deposited on the dielectric layer, as well as significantly improved the operating parameters of the manufactured transistors, compared to transistors containing a pure polymer without hybrid nanoparticles additives, as a dielectric layer. The second application area involved the use of silver-containing nanocomposites as a source of effective Raman signal amplification – the so-called Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) effect. This phenomenon can be used to significantly diminish the detection threshold of various kinds of biologically important compounds.

PUBLICATIONS resulting from the work carried out under the project UMO-2014/14/A/ST5/00204 „Nanomaterials with precisely tailored architecture – design, synthesis, properties”:

  1. Matrix-free Particle Brush System with Bimodal Molecular Weight Distribution Prepared by SI-ATRP; Yan Jiajun; Kristufek Tyler; Schmitt Michael; Wang Zongyu; Xie Guojun; Dang Alei; Hui Chin Ming; Pietrasik Joanna; Bockstaller Michael R.; Matyjaszewski Krzysztof; Macromolecules 48 (2015) 8208-8218; 10.1021/acs.macromol.5b01905
  2. Influence of intramolecular crosslinking on gelation in living copolymerization of monomer and divinyl cross-linker. Monte Carlo simulation studies; Polanowski, Piotr; Jeszka, Jeremiasz K.; Krysiak, Kamil; Matyjaszewski, Krzysztof; Polymer 79 (2015) 171-178; 10.1016./j.polymer.2015.10.018
  3. Preparation of Titania Nanoparticles with Tunable Anisotropy and Branched Structures from Core–Shell Molecular Bottlebrushes; Xie Guojun; Ding Hangjun; Daniel William F.M.; Wang Zongyu; Pietrasik Joanna; Sheiko Sergei S.; Matyjaszewski Krzysztof; Polymer 98 (2016) 481-486; 10.1016/j.polymer.2016.03.032
  4. Facile Arm-First Synthesis os Star Block-Copolymers via ARGET ATRP with ppm Amount of Catalyst; Ding Hangjun; Park Sangwoo; Zhong Mingjiang; Pan Xiangcheng; Pietrasik Joanna; Bettinger Christopher John; Matyjaszewski Krzysztof; Macromolecules 49 (2016) 6752-6760; 10.1021/acs.macromol.6b01597
  5. Preparation of ZnO hybrid nanoparticles by ATRP; Ding Hangjun; Yan Jiajun; Wang Zongyu; Xie Guojun; Mahoney Clare; Ferebee Rachel; Zhong Mingjiang; Daniel William F. M.; Pietrasik Joanna; Sheiko Sergei S.; Matyjaszewski Krzysztof; Polymer107 (2016) 492-502; 10.1016/j.polymer.2016.09.022
  6. Diffusive properties of water molecules in neighborhood of polymer chain as seen by Monte-Carlo simulations; Marcin Kozanecki, Krzysztof Halagan, Jakub Saramak, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski; Soft Matter 12 (2016) 5519-5528; 10.1039/c6sm00569a
  7. Modification of Silica Nanoparticles with Miktoarm Polymer Brushes via ATRP; Khabibullin Amir; Kopec Maciej; Matyjaszewski Krzysztof; J. Inorg. Polym. Mater. 26 (2016) 1292-1300; 10.1007/s10904-016-0427-2
  8. From precision polymers to complex materials and systems; Lutz Jean-François; Lehn Jean-Marie; Meijer E. W.; Matyjaszewski Krzysztof; Nature Reviews Materials 1 (2016) 16024; 10.1038/natrevmats.2016.24
  9. Preparation of Well-Defined Poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile)/ZnO Hybrid Nanoparticles by an Efficient Ligand Exchange Strategy; Wang Zongyu; Mahoney Clare; Yan Jiajun; Lu Zhao; Ferebee Rachel; Luo Danli; Bockstaller Michael R.; Matyjaszewski Krzysztof; Langmuir 32 (2016) 13207-13213; 10.1021/acs.langmuir.6b03827
  10. Kinetics of the temperature-induced volume phase transition in poly(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl methacrylate) hydrogels of various topologies; Pastorczak Marcin; Okrasa L.idia; Yoon Jeong Ae.; Kowalewski Tomasz.; Matyjaszewski Krzysztof; Polymer 110 (2017) 25-35; 10.1016/j.polymer.2016.12.064
  11. Transparent and High Refractive Index Thermoplastic Polymer Glasses Using Evaporative Ligand Exchange of Hybrid Particle Fillers; Wang Zongyu; Lu Zhao; Mahoney Clare; Yan Jiajun; Ferebee Rachel; Luo Danli; Matyjaszewski Krzysztof; Bockstaller Michael R; ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 9 (2017) 7515-7522; 10.1021/acsami.6b12666
  12. Raman spectroscopy study on influence of network architecture on hydration of poly(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl methacrylate) hydrogels; Magdalena N. Olejniczak, Marcin Kozanecki, Jakub Saramak, Malgorzata Matusiak, Slawomir Kadlubowski, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski; Journal of Raman Spectroscopy 48 (2017) 465-473; 10.1002/jrs.5048
  13. Effect of zinc oxide modified silica particles on the molecular dynamics of carboxylated acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber composites; Gaca Magdalena; Pietrasik Joanna; Zaborski Marian; Okrasa Lidia; Boiteux Gisele; Gain Olivier; Polymer 9 (2017) 645/1-645/14; 10.3390/polym9120645
  14. Growth of polymer brushes by „grafting from” via ATRP – Monte Carlo simulations; Polanowski Piotr; Hałagan Krzysztof; Pietrasik Joanna; Jeszka Jeremiasz K.; Matyjaszewski, Krzysztof; Polymer 130 (2017) 267-279; 10.1016/j.polymer.2017.10.011
  15. Synthesis and characterization of Ag NPs templated via polymerization induced self-assembly; Zhang Yaoming; Filipczak Paulina; He Guping; Nowaczyk Grzegorz; Witczak Łukasz; Raj Wojciech; Kozanecki Marcin; Matyjaszewski Krzysztof; Pietrasik Joanna; Polymer 129 (2017) 144-150; 10.1016/j.polymer.2017.09.047
  16. Toughening PMMA with fillers containing polymer brushes synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP); Kubiak Joshua M.; Yan Jiajun; Pietrasik Joanna; Matyjaszewski Krzysztof; Polymer 117 (2017) 48-53; 10.1016/j.polymer.2017.04.012
  17. Synthesis and characterisation of gibbsite nanoplatelet brushes by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization; Jianan Zhang; Jaejun Lee; Zongyu Wang; Jiajun Yan; Zhao Lu; Siyuan Liu; Danli Luo; Krzysztof Matyjaszewski; Michael R. Bockstaller; Polymer 126 (2017) 126-132; 10.1016/j.polymer.2017.08.028
  18. Monte Carlo Simulations of Atom Transfer Radical (Homo)polymerization of Divinyl Monomers: Applicability of Flory-Stockmayer Theory; Jing Lyu; Yongsheng Gao; Zidan Zhang; Udo Greiser; Piotr Polanowski; Jeremiasz K. Jeszka; Krzysztof Matyjaszewski; Hongyun Tai; Wenxin Wang; Macromolecules 51 (2018) 6673-6681; 10.1021/acs.macromol.8b01630
  19. Structure of block copolymer grafted silica nanoparticles; Goel Vivek; Pietrasik Joanna; Poling-Skutvik Ryan; Jackson Andrew; Matyjaszewski Krzysztof; Krishnamoorti Ramanan; Polymer 159 (2018) 138-145; 10.1016/j.polymer.2018.10.072
  20. ARUZ — Large-scale, massively parallel FPGA-based analyzer of real complex systems; Kiełbik, R., Hałagan, K., Zatorski, W., Jung, J., Ulanski, J., Napieralski, A., Rudnicki, K., Jabłoński, G., Stożek, D., Polanowski, P., Mudza, Z., Kupis, J., Panek, P.; Computer Physics Communications 232 (2018) 22-34; 10.1016/j.cpc.2018.06.010
  21. Versatile PISA templates for tailored synthesis of nanoparticles; Zhang Yaoming; Wang Zhang; Matyjaszewski Krzysztof.; Pietrasik Joanna; European Polymer Journal 110 (2019) 49-55; 10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2018.11.014
  22. Evolution of Morphology of POEGMA-b-PBzMA Nano-Objects Formed by PISA; Zhang Yaoming; Wang Zhang; Matyjaszewski Krzysztof; Pietrasik Joanna; Macromolecular Rapid Communnications 40 (2019) 1800331; 10.1002/marc.201800331
  23. Poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) brushes synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization from gold surface as a gate insulator in organic thin-film transistors; Krysiak Ewa; Janasz Lukasz; Dupont, B. G. R.; Wypych-Puszkarz Aleksandra; Matyjaszewski Krzysztof; Ulanski Jacek; Thin Solid Films 669 (2019) 133-140; 10.1016/j.tsf.2018.10.045
  24. Polymer brush relaxation during and after polymerization – Monte Carlo simulation study; Polanowski Piotr, Jeszka Jeremiasz, Matyjaszewski Krzysztof; Polymer 173 (2019) 190-196; 10.1016/j.polymer.2019.04.023
  25. Synthesis of Ultra-high Molecular Weight SiO2-g-PMMA Particle Brushes; Zongyu Wang, Tong Liu, Kevin C. Lin, Sipei Li, Jiajun Yan, Mateusz Olszewski, Julian Sobieski, Joanna Pietrasik, Michael R. Bockstaller, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski; Journal of Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers and Materials 30 (2020) 174-181; 10.1007/s10904-019-01289-8
  26. Tunable Assembly of Block Copolymer Tethered Particle Brushes by Surface-Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization; Zongyu Wang, Jaejun Lee, Zhenhua Wang, Yuqi Zhao, Jiajun Yan, Yu Lin, Sipei Li, Tong Liu, Mateusz Olszewski, Joanna Pietrasik, Michael R. Bockstaller, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski; ACS Macro Letters 9 (20200 806-812; 10.1021/acsmacrolett.0c00158
  27. Methodology of Firmware Development for ARUZ-An FPGA-Based HPC System; Rafał Kiełbik, Kamil Rudnicki, Zbigniew Mudza, Jarosław Jung; Electronics 9 (2020) 1482; 10.3390/electronics9091482
  28. Polymer brushes in pores by ATRP: Monte Carlo simulations; Piotr Polanowski, Jeremiasz K. Jeszka, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski; Polymer 211 (2020) 123124; 10.1016/j.polymer.2020.123124
  29. Star polymer–TiO2 nanohybrids to effectively modify the surface of PMMA dielectric layers for solution processable OFETs; Katarzyna Budzalek, Hangjun Ding, Lukasz Janasz, Aleksandra Wypych-Puszkarz, Onur Cetinkaya, Joanna Pietrasik, Marcin Kozanecki, Jacek Ulanski, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski; Journal of Materials Chemistry C 9 (2021) 1269-1278; 10.1039/d0tc03137b
  30. Effective SERS materials by loading Ag nanoparticles into poly(acrylic acid-stat-acrylamide)-block-polystyrene nano-objects prepared by PISA; Gokhan Demirci, Julita Muszyńska, Onur Cetinkaya, Paulina Filipczak, Yaoming Zhang, Grzegorz Nowaczyk, Krzysztof Hałagan, Jacek Ulanski, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Joanna Pietrasik, Marcin Kozanecki; Polymer 224 (2021) 123747; 10.1016/j.polymer.2021.123747
  31. Molecular bottlebrush with pH-responsive cleavable bonds as a unimolecular vehicle for anticancer drug delivery; Wojciech Raj, Krzysztof Jerczynski, Mahdi Rahimi, Agata Przekora, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Joanna Pietrasik; Materials Science & Engineering C 130 (2021) 112439; 10.1016/j.msec.2021.112439
  32. The structure of polymer brushes: the transition from dilute to dense systems: a computer simulation study; Piotr Polanowski, Andrzej Sikorski; Soft Matter 17 (2021) 10516; 10.1039/d1sm01306h
  33. Thermally Degradable Poly(n-butyl acrylate) Model Networks Prepared by PhotoATRP and Radical Trap-Assisted Atom Transfer Radical Coupling; Michael R. Martinez, Ziye Zhuang, Megan Treichel, Julia Cuthbert , Mingkang Sun, Joanna Pietrasik, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski; Polymers 14 (2022) 713; 10.3390/polym14040713
  34. SUBMITTED Well-defined molecular brushes as unimolecular templates for fabrication of titania nanoparticles with controlled morphology; Krzysztof Jerczyński, Magdalena Lipińska, Wojciech Raj, Miroslav Šlouf, Krzysztof Hałagan, Marcin Kozanecki, Jarosław Grobelny, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Joanna Pietrasik; Polymer
  35. SUBMITTED Stimuli-responsive Vitamin E-based micelles: effective drug carriers with a controlled anticancer drug release; Wojciech Raj, Krzysztof Jerczynski, Mahdi Rahimi, Ewa Pavlova, Miroslav Šlouf, Agata Przekora, Joanna Pietrasik; Polymer

The significant recent results achieved are described in the following forthcoming work:
A.  “Influence of template topology on SERS efficiency performed on hybrid nanoparticles“; Krzysztof Jerczyński, Julita Muszyńska, Paulina Filipczak, Joanna Pietrasik, Marcin Kozanecki, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski; Sensors (MDPI), 2022
B. “Continuity of thin layers of organic semiconductor induced by modification of gate insulator”; Adam Łuczak, Witold Waliszewski, Krzysztof Jerczyński, Aleksandra Wypych-Puszkarz, Jacek Rogowski, Joanna Pietrasik, Marcin Kozanecki, Jacek Ulański and Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, J. Mat. Chem. C, 2022
C. “Influence of barium titanate particles surface on molecular dynamics, structure and interactions of grafted poly(methyl methacrylate) chains”; Aleksandra Wypych-Puszkarz, Onur Cetinkaya, Jiajun Yan, Ruslana Udovytska, Jarosław Jung, Jacek Jenczyk, Grzegorz Nowaczyk, Stefan Jurga, Jacek Ulański, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Joanna Pietrasik, Marcin Kozanecki. Molecules (MDPI), 2022

POLISH PATENTS:

  1. Sposób wytwarzania małocząsteczkowych inicjatorów do tworzenia gwiazd polimerowych K. Krysiak, K. Matyjaszewski, M. Z. Kozanecki, J. Pietrasik, patent nr 235628, przyznany 13.10.2020
  2. Sposób wytwarzania hybrydowych warstw dielektrycznych przeznaczonych do zastosowania w organicznych tranzystorach z efektem polowym E. Krysiak, J. P. Ulański, Ł. Janasz, B. Dupont, A. Wypych-Puszkarz; patent nr 236422, przyznany 29.01.2021
  3. Sposób wytwarzania hybrydowych warstw dielektrycznych przeznaczonych do zastosowania w organicznych tranzystorach z efektem polowym (cz2)E. Krysiak, J. P. Ulański, Ł. Janasz, B. Dupont, A. Wypych-Puszkarz; patent nr 236423, przyznany 29.01.2021
  4. Pochodna ksylitolu, sposób jej otrzymywania oraz jej zastosowanie w syntezie gwiazd polimerowych K. Krysiak, K. Matyjaszewski, M. Z. Kozanecki, J. Pietrasik, E. Krysiak; patent nr 235213, przyznany 16.07.2021