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Mather Research Group Contact Information Website: http://mather.syr.edu Email: ptmather@syr.edu Research Interests
MRG Experimental Facilities The Mather laboratories at Syracuse University, established in 2007 and undergoing rapid growth, encompass approximately 2200 square feet of space consolidated on the third floor of Link Hall. Characterization Laboratory The polymer characterization laboratory houses state of the art thermal analysis equipment, including a TA Instruments Q100 DSC capable of modulated DSC and equipped with refrigerated cooling and a Q500 TGA. This laboratory is further equipped with the best rotational rheometer commercially available, the Anton Paar MCR501. This melt rheometer can operate in controlled strain and controlled stress modes, both oscillatory and steady, with shear and elongational deformation geometries possible as well, the latter enabled by an SER platform from Expansion Instruments, Inc. Characterization of polymer thin coating adsorption, desorption, and degradation is made possible with a quartz crystal microbalance, SRS QCM200, also housed in this lab, and outfitted with a flow-through fluid cell. Optics Laboratory The polymer optics laboratory includes modern digital light microscopy capabilities built around an Olympus BX-51 polarizing microscope. The microscope is augmented with an Instec HCS402-STC2-A heating/cooling stage and high resolution MITO CCD camera. The Instec stage is unique by virtue of heating from both below and above the sample, thereby assuring temperature uniformity. A Linkam CSS-450 shear cell, which can be mounted on the BX-51 polarizing microscope for imaging flow-modified fluid microstructures, is also kept in this lab. A custom-built optical microrheometer capable of planar couette fluid flow at elevated temperatures and force measurement is available for mounting on the microscope as well. In additi on, there is a custom spectrographic birefringence apparatus capable of quantitative optical retardance measurements in the range of 50 < Dn.h < 50000 nm that is amenable to in-situ observation with the shear cells and hot stage. Synthesis and Processing Laboratory The polymer synthesis and processing lab includes glassware based synthesis apparatus to enable standard organic reactions and polymerizations. Schlenk lines and associated vacuum pumps and gauges enable reactions to be performed under inert conditions for vacuum transfers and distillations. Several vacuum ovens, balances, and a new rotary evaporator support the synthetic efforts in this lab as well. This laboratory also houses a modular and custom electrospinning apparatus for the processing of polymeric nanofibers. This apparatus is built around a high voltage power supply (Ultravolt, Inc.) and syringe pump delivery system. Polymer solutions are delivered to a charged fine needle and collected on a grounded metal disk with control over voltage, sample-collector separation distance, volumetric flow rate, and solution rheology. Additionally, two incubator shakers (New Brunswick C24) allow study of the behavior of newly synthesized polymers in simulated (in-vitro) body fluid environments. Sample Publications 1. Taekwoong Chung, Angel Romo-Uribe, and Patrick T. Mather, "Two-Way Reversible Shape Memory in a Semicrystalline Network," accepted Macromolecules (2007). 2. Maria C. Advincula, Pritesh Patel, P.T. Mather, Tyler Mattson, and A. Jon Goldberg, "Polypeptide- derived silica for biomedical applications," accepted J. Biomedical Materials Research A: Part A (2007). 3. P.T. Mather, "Responsive Materials: Soft answers for hard problems," Nature Materials, 6(2), 93-94 (2007). 4. C. Liu, H. Qin, and P.T. Mather, "Review of Progress in Shape Memory Polymers," invited feature article J. Mater. Chem. 14, 1543-1558 (2007). 5. W. Lee, S. Ni, J. Deng, B.-S. Kim, S. K. Satija, P.T. Mather, A.R. Esker, "Isotherm Studies of Telechelic Poly(ethylene oxide) Amphiphiles Endcapped with Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane (POSS) at the Air/Water Interface," Macromolecules 40(3) 682-688(2006). Return to Research |
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