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Sie sind hier: FRIAS School of Soft Matter … Veranstaltungen Marcel Utz: "Electro- and …

Marcel Utz: "Electro- and chemo-mechanical interactions of polyelectrolytes in microsystems"

Wann 17.11.2011
von 13:15 bis 14:00
Wo FRIAS Seminar Room, Albertstr. 19, 79104 Freiburg
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Marcel Utz
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia

 

Electro- and chemo-mechanical interactions of polyelectrolytes in microsystems

Polyelectrolytes combine a polymer chain-like nature with electrostatic interactions. This leads to interesting, complex behavior. For example, polyelectrolyte gels are made of a charged polymer network swollen in water. Mechanically, such systems behave like solids; however, their charged microstructure gives rise to interesting electromechanical and chemomechanical properties, which can be exploited to build mechanical sensors and actuators. In this presentation, recent quantitative results on the electromechanical and chemo-mechanical coupling in polyelectrolyte gels and brushes will be discussed and put into the context of theoretical descriptions based on thermodynamics.