Polydicyclopentadiene (PDCPD) is a tough, heavily crosslinked thermoset polymer that has high heat, chemical, and impact resistance coupled with a low density. Current limitations to the broader industrial application of PDCPD include its low surface energy and lack of chemical tunability. Here, we report the first example of a polymer derived from a carboxyl-functionalized dicyclopentadiene monomer and its subsequent thermal crosslinking. The resulting material has the highest glass-transition temperature reported for a polydicyclopentadiene and allows for the facile manipulation of the surface chemistry through alteration of the embedded functional group. We also report the first observation by differential scanning calorimetry of the crosslinking step as a discreet thermal event.

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Gravity and magnetism are implemented to change the morphology of zinc oxide nanorod sensors during synthesis. The effects of gravity and magnetism can translate into future application of these nanorods through cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and easy-to-use biosensor technology with the quickest available sensing. The sensors can pave the way toward detection of both bacteria and fungi present on the surface with high sensitivity. This ability to sense microorganisms in a "non-solution-based" environment represents a key step forward in the fields of health and food safety, as well as solid-state nanomaterial biotechnology applications. Hundreds of thousands of people are affected each year by accidental contamination and current protocols are far from preventative. The results of the magnetic field studies when compared with previous results show that the following factors affect the outcome of applying magnetic field during the growth of nanorods on their morphology: the direction of growth with respect to gravity, the method of seeding, and the substrate.

A unique combination of molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and detailed size exclusion chromatography-multiangle light scattering (SEC-MALS) analysis is used to provide important a priori insights into the solution self-assembly of a well-defined and symmetric tetrablock copolymer with two acrylic acid (AA) outer blocks, two polystyrene (PS) inner blocks, and a trithiocarbonate (TTC) central group, prepared by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. SEC-MALS experiments show that the copolymer forms aggregates in both tetrahydrofuran and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), even in the presence of different salts, but not in 1,4-dioxane (dioxane). Combined with MD simulations, these results indicate that the AA units are the main cause of aggregation through intermolecular hydrogen bonding, with additional stabilization by the central TTC. The block copolymer chains self-assemble in dioxane by adding cadmium acetate, originating flowerlike inverse micelles with a cadmium acrylate core and the TTC groups in the outer surface of the PS corona. The micelles were used as nanoreactors in the templated synthesis of a single cadmium selenide (CdSe) quantum dot (QD) in the core of each micelle, whereas the shell TTC groups can be converted into thiol functions for further use of these units in hierarchical nanostructures. Only in dioxane where simulations and SEC-MALS suggest an absence of copolymer aggregates prior to cadmium acetate addition do well-dispersed and highly luminescent CdSe QDs form by templated synthesis. These results provide valuable insights into the self-assembly of RAFT copolymers in different solvent systems as it relates to the preparation of emissive QDs with polymer-spaced thiol functionality for binding to gold nanostructures.

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