Controlled Structuring of Heterophase Biopolymers at the Micro and Nano Scale

在过去的十年里，生物聚合物的使用出现了戏剧性的增长。尽管生物聚合物的升级 用途令人印象深刻，目前市场上的材料受到一系列系统性能的影响 弱点和这些弱点目前是它们在世界范围内持续增长的障碍。这个 生物聚合物共混以产生多相体系被认为是主要的方法之一 克服这些固有的属性限制。在这个项目中，我们将专注于通过多相生物聚合物系统中的形态和界面控制来构建微相和纳米相结构，作为开发下一代生物材料的途径。将研究热力学稳定的三元、四元和五元生物聚合物体系。共连续形态和液滴包封结构是一种复杂的微结构，与经典的液滴-基质类型系统相比，可以用来开发全新的性质集。我们将研究纳米夹杂物在这些多相生物聚合物体系中的受控局部化，以及这种体系在导电应用方面的潜力。还将探索将这些复杂结构转化为多孔材料及其控制药物释放的潜力。

The use of biopolymers has seen dramatic growth in the last decade. Although the escalation of biopolymers' use is impressive, the materials presently on the market suffer from a range of systemic performance weaknesses and these weaknesses currently represent barriers to their sustained growth worldwide. The blending of biopolymers to generate heterophase systems is considered to be one of the main approaches to overcome these inherent property limitations. In this project we will concentrate on micro- and nano-phase structuring through morphology and interface control in multiphase biopolymer systems as a route towards the development of next-generation biomaterials. Thermodynamically stable ternary, quaternary and quinary biopolymer systems will be studied. Co-continuous morphologies and encapsulated droplet-in-droplet structures are sophisticated microstructures which can be used to develop completely new property sets as compared to the classical droplet-in-matrix type systems. The controlled localization of nanoinclusions within these multiphase biopolymer systems and the potential of such a system for conductive applications will be examined. The transformation of these complex structures into porous materials and their potential for controlled drug release will also be explored.