The Macromolecular Materials Laboratory consists of the Polymer and Nanomaterials Group, led by Professor Alan H Windle, and the Materials Modelling Group, led by Dr James Elliott. The Macromolecular Materials Laboratory is home to a major research effort on carbon nanotubes. This laboratory also carries out research into a wide variety of polymer systems.
Investigations into carbon nanotubes within the Polymer and Nanomaterials Group first began in 1995. Since then, the programme has expanded rapidly and nanotubes now form a major component of research within the group. A list of our nanotube publications can be obtained here.
Carbon nanotubes are an exciting allotrope of carbon that was only fully recognised ten years ago, and are generally considered to belong to the fullerene family. A wide range of applications have been suggested including nanoelectronics, ultrastrong materials, field emission guns and catalyst supports. Within the Polymer and Nanomaterials Group, we are currently investigating the use of nanotubes for gas filration and storage and in nanotube-modified polymer composites. One of the current limiting factors on the development of such applications is the limited quantity of high quality nanotubes that are available from current production routes, and hence we have a major program developing large-scale synthesis techniques. Many applications will also require surface modification of nanotubes in order to control their interactions with each other and with other functional materials.
Collaborative work between the Macromolecular Materials Laboratory and the Materials Chemistry Group currently focuses on the use of carbon nanotubes in electrochemical capacitors, also known as supercapacitors. This work, led by Dr. Mark Hughes, indicates that carbon nanotube-conducting polymer composites offer particularly promising specific capacitances, far beyond those of current commercially available capacitors.
Due to their molecular dimensions and (admitedly modest) flexibility we belive that nanotubes, especially the single-walled variety can be regarded as conjugated polymer molecules. In our previous work we have found evidence that nanotubes can behave in a similar fashion to polymers under certain circumstances and we expect further examples of polymeric phenomena to emerge. We are very interested in exploring the interactions within mixtures of nanotubes and conventional polymers which can be thought of as polymer blends. (More on nanotubes as polymers).
In addition we are combining two major strengths of the Macromolecular Materials Laboratory, in terms of computational modelling of macromolecules and understanding of nanotube behaviour, to develop a program of modelling - both the intrinsic behaviour of nanotubes and their interaction with other molecules.
For many years, the group has been involved in molecular modelling of polymers. In particular, X-ray studies performed in the group's dedicated X-ray facilities are related to possible crystal structures modelled using both in-house and commercial software. In fact one of the world's leading molecular modelling packages, Cerius from Accelrys Inc. (formerly Molecular Simulations Inc.) evolved from a piece of in-house code. Another key area in which modelling is used is in trying to understand the microstructure of liquid crystalline polymers. Modelling is also used in trying to understand various processing-structure-property relationships. This covers a wide variety of more applied research into areas such as carbon nanotubes, foams, polymer composites, welding of thermoplastics and rheology of liquid crystalline polymers. The group also benefits from a well equipped polymer characterisation laboratory.