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SUMMARY:IMX Talks - Viscoelasticity and Applications of Self-Healing Po
 lymers
DTSTART:20250918T160000
DTEND:20250918T170000
DTSTAMP:20260531T024820Z
UID:917b9e5f201972e5c353b4c98abb9e487fe4b9920bd92e6fc64a06ca
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Dr. Laura Porath from ESPCI\, Paris\, France\n\n© 2025 EPFL\n
 \nTunable soft polymeric materials have applications from soft robotics\, 
 adhesives\, 3D printing\, and reusable\nplastics. The first part of the ta
 lk will focus on dynamic polymer networks (specifically vitrimers) which a
 re\nexciting for their recyclability. By designing the polymer architectur
 e of PDMS or polyacrylate vitrimers\, the\nviscoelastic behavior was tuned
  when both fast and slow crosslinkers were mixed into a network. When the 
 fast\nand slow crosslinkers (four orders of magnitude difference in relaxa
 tion time) were mixed in an end-crosslinked\npolymer network\, a single re
 laxation time was observed\, but two modes of relaxation were identified w
 hen the\npolymer was statistically crosslinked and could “feel” both t
 he fast and slow bond exchange along a single\npolymer chain.\nBased on th
 ese PDMS vitrimers\, we also invented and filed a patent for a novel ultra
 -thin polymer coating. The\nPDMS gel network can be applied to various sur
 faces (glass\, metals\, silicon) at heights of only 10 nanometers and\nsti
 ll achieve self-healing from pinholes and cuts\, prevent delamination of t
 he coating\, and promote dropwise\ncondensation for multiple weeks. The PD
 MS coating is superhydrophobic\, transparent\, and adaptable to rough\nor 
 curved surfaces\, making it ideal for multiple applications from the energ
 y sector in covering solar panels or\nsteam power plant machines\, to the 
 commercial sector for cars or as screen protectors. These two stories show
 \nhow tunability in chemistry can lead to rheological design and broader a
 pplications for the field of soft polymer\nmaterials.\n\nBio: Dr. Laura Po
 rath received a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Chic
 ago in 2017. She then pursued\na PhD in Materials Science and Engineering 
 at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with Professor Chris\nEvans
 \, where she specialized in the rheology of vitrimers\, or dynamic covalen
 t polymer networks. In Fall of 2022\,\nshe began a postdoctoral position i
 n the lab of Professor Jan Vermant at ETH in Zurich to study the rheologic
 al\neffect of active particles on soft viscoelastic gel environments. She 
 also collaborated with Dr. Eleonora Secchi on\nthe study of bacterial biof
 ilms as soft materials\, including their rheological characterization. Ell
 ie currently holds\na postdoctoral position at the ESPCI in Paris in colla
 boration with L’Oréal where she designs chemically relevant\nartificial
  skin for better understanding the sensation of spreading on micrometric r
 ough surfaces.
LOCATION:INM 203 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==INM%20203
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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