• Macromolecular Research
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.339-344
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• 2002

Poly(vinyl alcohol-b-styrene) (poly(VA-b-St)) diblock copolymer containing high syndiotactic poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) was synthesized by the saponification of poly(vinyl pivalate-b-styrene) (poly(VPi-b-St)). For the block copolymer, poly(vinyl pivalate) (PVPi) with trichloromethyl end group was obtained via telomerization of vinyl pivalate with carbon tetrachloride as a telogen and 2,2-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator. Then resulting poly(vinyl pivalate) with trichloromethyl end group was used as an effient macroinitiator for the synthesis of poly(VPi-b-St) using atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) in the presence of CuCl/2,2'-bipyridine at 130 $^{\circ}C$. The poly(vinyl pivalate) macroinitiator, poly(VPi-b-St), poly(VA-b-St) were characterized by GPC, FT-IR and $^1$H-NMR. And the analysis showed that integrity of the block copolymer was maintained during saponification reaction.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.169-177
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• 2008

This paper reports a facile synthesis of new water-soluble poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based amphiphilic block copolymers showing pH sensitive phase transition behaviors. The copolymers were prepared by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of methacrylamide type of monomers carrying a sulfonamide group using a PEO-based macroinitiator and a Cu(I)Br/$Me_6TREN$ catalytic system in aqueous media. The resulting polymers were characterized by a combination of $^1H$-NMR, size exclusion chromatography, and UV/Visible spectrophotometeric analysis. The micellization of the block copolymers as a drug-loading mechanism in aqueous media using fluorescein salt was examined as a function of pH. The stable micelle formation and its loading efficacy suggest that the block copolymers can be used as precursors for drug-nanocontainers.

• Korean Membrane Journal
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2009

This work reports the preparation of proton conductive crosslinked polymer electrolyte membranes by blending poly(vinyl chloride)-g-poly(hydroxyl ethyl acrylate) (PVC-g-PHEA) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). The PHEA chains of the graft copolymer were crosslinked with PVA using sulfosuccinic acid (SA) via the esterification reaction between -OH of polymer matrix and -COOH of SA. The PVC-g-PHEA graft copolymer was synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) using direct initiation of the secondary chlorines of PVC backbones. Ion exchange capacity (IEC) continuously increased with increasing concentrations of SA, due to the increasing portion of charged groups in the membrane. However, the water uptake increased up to 20.0 wt% of SA concentration above which it decreased monotonically. The membrane exhibited a maximum proton conductivity of 0.026 S/cm at 20.0 wt% of SA concentration, which is presumably due to competitive effect between the increase of ionic sites and the crosslinking reaction.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.392-399
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• 2019

A highly transparent interfacial layer (HTIL) to enhance the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) was prepared via a polymer-assisted (PA) approach. Poly(vinyl chloride)-graft-poly(oxyethylene methacrylate) (PVC-g-POEM) was synthesized via atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and was used as a sacrificial template. The PVC-g-POEM graft copolymer induced partial coordination of a hydrophilic titanium isopropoxide (TTIP) sol-gel solution with the POEM domain, resulting in microphase separation, and in turn, the generation of mesopores upon calcination. These phenomena were confirmed using Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, UV-visible light transmittance spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The DSSCs incorporating HTIL60/20 (consisting of a top layer with a pore size of 60 nm and a bottom layer with a pore size of 20 nm) exhibited the best overall conversion efficiency (6.36%) among the tested samples, which was 25.9% higher than that of a conventional blocking layer (BL). DSSC was further characterized using the Nyquist plot and incident-photon to electron conversion efficiency (IPCE) spectra.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.1800-1808
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• 2013

Dual-responsive amphiphilic block copolymers were synthesized by combining enzymatic ring-opening polymerization (eROP) of ${\varepsilon}$-caprolactone (CL) and ATRP of N,N-dimethylamino-2-ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA). The obtained block copolymers were characterized by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), $^1H$ NMR and FTIR-IR. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) of copolymer was determined by fluorescence spectra, it can be found that with hydrophilic block (PDMAEMA) increasing, CMC value of the polymer sample increased accordingly, and the CMC value was 0.012 mg/mL, 0.025 mg/mL and 0.037 mg/mL for $PCL_{50}$-b-$PDMAEMA_{68}$, $PCL_{50}$-b-$PDMAEMA_{89}$, $PCL_{50}$-b-$PDMAEMA_{112}$, $PCL_{50}$-b-$PDMAEMA_{89}$ was chosen as drug carrier to study in vitro release profile of anti-cancer drug (taxol). The temperature and pH dependence of the values of hydrodynamic diameter (Dh) of micelles, and self-assembly of the resulting block copolymers in water were evaluated by dynamic light scattering (DLS). The result showed that with the temperature increasing and pH decreasing, the Dh decreased. Drug-loaded nanoparticles were fabricated using paclitaxel as model. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) had been explored to study the morphology of the hollow micelles and the nanoparticles, revealing well-dispersed spheres with the average diameters both around 80 nm. In vitro release kinetics of paclitaxel from the nanoparticles was also investigated in different conditions (pH and temperature, etc.), revealing that the drug release was triggered by temperature changes upon the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) at pH 7.4, and at $37^{\circ}C$ by an increase of pH.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.352-356
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• 2011

In this paper, we prepared new type of hydrophilic block copolymers that exhibit the long-ranged lateral ordering in thin film. It was previously demonstrated that poly(ethyleneoxide-b-styrene) and poly(ethyleneoxide-b-metharylate-b-styrene) block copolymer thin films have a high degree of lateral ordering after solvent annealing process. In these cases, the relative humidity plays an important role in long-ranged lateral ordering. However, the origin of the humidity effect on the orders of these hydrophilic block copolymers is not fully understood. To investigate the effect of the humidity further, we prepared other hydrophilic poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide-b-styrene)(PDMA-b-PS) block copolymers via RAFT polymerization. As with PEO-containing block copolymers, PDMA-b-PS block copolymers exhibit the long-ranged lateral ordering after solvent annealing process.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 2010

A diblock copolymer of polystyrene-b-poly(oxyethylene methacrylate) (PS-b-POEM) was synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), as revealed by FT-IR spectroscopy. The self-assembled block copolymer membrane was prepared and used to template the growth of silver nanoparticles in the solid state by the introduction of $AgCF_3SO_3$ precursor and UV irradiation process. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and UV-visible spectroscopy confirmed the in situ formation of silver nanoparticles within the block copolymer membranes, and the size of nanoparticles were controlled by adjusting the moiety of hydrophilic POEM domains. PS-b-POEM block copolymer with a lower POEM content was effective in generating smaller size of metal nanoparticles.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.549-554
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• 2008

Proton conducting crosslinked membranes were prepared using polymer blends of polystyrene-b-poly(hydroxyethyl acrylate)-b-poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PS-b-PHEA-b-PSSA) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). PS-b-PHEA-b-PSSA triblock copolymer at 28:21:51 wt% was synthesized sequentially using atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). FT-IR spectroscopy showed that after thermal ($120^{\circ}C$, 2 h) and chemical (sulfosuccinic acid, SA) treatments of the membranes, the middle PHEA block of the triblock copolymer was crosslinked with PVA through an esterification reaction between the -OH group of the membrane and the -COOH group of SA. The ion exchange capacity (IEC) decreased from 1.56 to 0.61 meq/g with increasing amount of PVA. Therefore, the proton conductivity at room temperature decreased from 0.044 to 0.018 S/cm. However, the introduction of PVA resulted in a decrease in water uptake from 87.0 to 44.3%, providing good mechanical properties applicable to the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) of fuel cells. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that the membrane was microphase-separated with a nanometer range with good connectivity of the $SO_3H$ ionic aggregates. The power density of a single $H_2/O_2$ fuel cell system using the membrane with 50 wt% PVA was $230\;mW/cm^2$ at $70^{\circ}C$ with a relative humidity of 100%. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) also showed a decrease in the thermal stability of the membranes with increasing PVA concentration.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.64.1-64.1
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• 2010

The morphology of mesoporous $TiO_2$ films plays an important role in the operation of a DSSC. For example, the energy conversion efficiency of DSSCs with well-organized mesoporous $TiO_2$ films is much higher than those with traditional films possessing a random morphology. In previous research, well-organized mesoporous $TiO_2$ films have mainly been synthesized using an amphiphilic block copolymer, e.g., a poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based template. A graft copolymer is more attractive than a block copolymer due to its low cost and the ease with which it can be synthesized. In this work, we provide the first report on the successful synthesis of well-organized mesoporous $TiO_2$ films templated by an organized graft copolymer as a structure directing agent. Well-organized mesoporous $TiO_2$ films with excellent channel connectivities were developed via the sol gel processusing an organized PVC-g-POEM graft copolymer synthesized by one-pot ATRP. The careful adjustment of copolymer composition and solvent affinity using a THF/$H_2O$/HCl mixture was used to systematically vary the material structure. The influence of the material structure on solar cell performance was then investigated. A solid-state DSSC employing both the graft copolymer templated organized 700 nm-thick $TiO_2$ films and graft copolymer electrolytes exhibited a solar conversion efficiency of 2.2% at 100 $mW/cm^2$. This value was approximately two-fold higher than that attained from a DSSC employing a random mesoporous $TiO_2$ film. The solar cell performance was maximized at 4.6% when the film thickness was increased to $2.5{\mu}m$. We believe that this graft copolymer-directed approach introduces a new and simple route toward the synthesis of well-organized metal oxide films as an alternative to a conventional block copolymer-based template.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.261-267
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• 2008

A graft copolymer consisting of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) backbone and poly(hydroxyethyl acrylate) (PHEA) side chains was synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Direct initiation of the secondary chlorines of PVC facilitates grafting of hydrophilic PHEA monomer. This graft copolymer, i.e. PVC-g-PHEA was cross-linked with sulfosuccinic acid (SA) via the esterification reaction between -OH of the graft copolymer and -COOH of SA, as confirmed by FT-IR spectroscopy. Ion exchange capacity (IEC) continuously increased to 0.87meq/g with increasing concentrations of SA, due to the increasing portion of charged groups in the membrane. However, the water uptake increased up to 20.0wt% of SA concentration above which it decreased monotonically. The membrane also exhibited a maximum proton conductivity of 0.025 S/cm at 20.0 wt% of SA concentration, which is presumably due to competitive effect between the increase of ionic sites and the crosslinking reaction.