TERNARY LAYERED CHALCOGENIDES FOR SUPERCAPACITOR APPLICATIONS

Ever growing need for energy generation and storage applications demands development of materials with high performance and long term stability. Layer-structured materials are advantageous for supercapacitor applications owing to their ability to host a variety of atoms or ions, large ionic conductivity and high surface area. In particular, ternary or higher-order layered materials provide a unique opportunity to develop stable supercapacitor devices with high specific capacitance values by offering additional redox sites combined with the flexibility of tuning the interlayer distance by substitution. CuSbE2 (E = S or Se) are ternary layered semiconductor materials that are composed of sustainable and less-toxic elements. We have used solution-based approaches for the synthesis of mono-, few- and multiple layers of CuSbE2 (E = S or Se) and their systematic study for use as supercapacitors, along with the effect of ionic size of electrolyte ions on the specific capacitance and long-term cycling performance behavior.
Electronic structure calculations based on density functional theory predict that very high specific capacitance values are achievable using CuSbS2, making it a very attractive layer-structured material for supercapacitor applications. Quasi-solid-state flexible supercapacitor devices fabricated using CuSbS2 nanoplates exhibit an aerial capacitance value of 40 mF/cm2 with excellent cyclic stability and no loss of specific capacitance at various bending angles. Moreover, the supercapacitors are operable over a wide temperature range.
Dr. Gupta is in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical and Biological Engineering at the Center for Materials for Information Technology, University of Alabama. He can be contacted at Department of Chemistry and Chemical and Biological Engineering, Center for Materials for Information Technology, University of Alabama, AL 35487. He can be contacted at http://www.bama.ua.edu/~agupta/about.html.
POLYMERS: More Than Meets the Eye

Polymers are more than just academically interesting materials. Often referred to as plastics, polymers are present in almost all areas of everyday life. For example, in the kitchen we use plastic utensils and storage containers. In the grocery store you see arrays of plastic bottles and wraps.
Many of your personal technology items are encased to some degree in polymeric material. When thinking about the types of polymers around us, it is clear that polymers exhibit a wide range of properties. Some are soft and elastic, whereas others can be quite hard and stiff. What gives polymers their properties? It turns out that the physical properties of polymers depend largely on the polymer structure at the atomic and molecular level.
The types of atoms and bonds in the structure play a large role in determining polymer properties. Chemists have developed methods to control the structure of polymers at the molecular level, enabling the production of polymers with desirable properties for specific applications. In this lecture, we will examine the relationship between molecular structure and macroscopic properties of polymers, taking a look at specific examples to illustrate these principles in action.
Dr. David Y. Son is in the Department of Chemistry at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. He can be contacted at Southern Methodist University, Department of Chemistry, Dallas, Texas, 75275-0314. He can be contacted at dson@mail.smu.edu; http://faculty.smu.edu/dson.
NEW VIEWS OF WETTING

In the first decade of the current century, a revolution in the field of wetting took place and the McCarthy group at UMass was central to initiating this event. Two papers are referenced below; one that has the pejorative and provocative title, "How Wenzel and Cassie were Wrong", that disproved two classic theories of wetting and one that is a summary of our papers that were published during 2006-2009 on the topics of fundamental wetting and superhydrophobicity.
A pedagogic introduction to the new views of wetting will be presented. Fundamental issues of interfacial interactions between liquids and solids will be discussed.
Following an introduction to contact angle and contact angle hysteresis, the “Lotus Effect” will be explained from kinetic and thermodynamic points of view. In one section of the talk, it will be shown that perfectly hydrophobic surfaces can be prepared using solution or vapor phase reactions.
Dr. McCarthy is in the Polymer Science and Engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003. He can be contacted at ctmcc@umass.edu; https://www.pse.umass.edu/faculty/researchgroup/mccarthy
NANOSTRUCTURED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS BY TAMING FREE RADICALS

Many advanced nanostructured functional materials were recently designed and prepared by controlled/ living radical polymerization (CRP). More than 100 million tons of polymers are produced annually world-wide by conventional radical polymerization. However, macromolecular engineering is impossible in this process. Copper-based ATRP (atom transfer radical polymerization) catalytic systems with polydentate nitrogen ligands are among most efficient controlled/living radical polymerization systems.
Recently, by applying new initiating/catalytic systems, Cu level in ATRP was reduced to a few ppm. ATRP of acrylates, methacrylates, styrenes, acrylamides, acrylonitrile and other vinyl monomers was employed for macromolecular engineering of polymers with precisely controlled molecular weights, low dispersities, designed shape, composition and functionality.
Examples of block, graft, star, hyperbranched, gradient and periodic copolymers, molecular brushes and various hybrid materials and bioconjugates prepared with high precision will be presented. These polymers can be used as components of various advanced materials such as health and beauty products, biomedical and electronic materials, coatings, elastomers, adhesives, surfactants, dispersants, lubricants, additives, or sealants. Special emphasis will be on nanostructured multifunctional hybrid materials for application related to environment, energy and catalysis.
Dr. Matyjaszewski is in the Center for Macromolecular Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, PA. He can be contacted at matyjaszewski@cmu.edu; https://www.cmu.edu/maty/matyjaszewski/; https://www.cmu.edu/maty/