Methods to produce nano-sized organic molecular crystals in thin films are of great interest in the pharmaceutical industry due to the potential benefit of increased solubility of poorly soluble drugs and the advantages of film-based dosage forms over traditional tablet/capsule-based dosage form. One method to directly form organic nanocrystals is by crystallization in confined environments whe...

Tissue engineering has shown great promise for creating biological alternatives for implants. In this approach, scaffolding plays a pivotal role. Hydroxyapatite mimics the natural bone mineral and has shown good bone-bonding properties. This paper describes the preparation and morphologies of three-dimensional porous composites from poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) or poly(D,L-lactic acid-co-glycolic...

The aim of this review is to cover the contribution of high resolution NMR spectroscopy to the study of polymer microstructure, particularly after the years 1974-5, thus continuing the series of previous reviews (1-6). The impact of stereospecific catalysts on the polymer world has created new demands for methods of studying the stereochemical configuration of polymer chains. NMR spectroscopy h...

Microstructure plays an essential role in determining the properties of crystalline materials. A widely used method to influence microstructure is the addition of nucleating agents. Observations on films formed from clay-polymer blends indicate that particulate additives, in addition to serving as nucleating agents, may also perturb crystal growth, leading to the formation of irregular dendriti...

Polymer-solvent compound formation, occurring via co-crystallization of polymer chains and selected small-molecular species, is demonstrated for the conjugated polymer poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) (PFO) and a range of organic solvents. The resulting crystallization and gelation processes in PFO solutions are studied by differential scanning calorimetry, with X-ray diffraction providing additional ...

We use a topology optimization method to design 1-3 piezocomposites with optimal performance characteristics for hydrophone applications. The performance characteristics we focus on are the hydrostatic charge coefficient d spd h , the hydrophone figure of merit d spd h g spd h , and the electromechanical coupling factor k spd h . The piezocomposite consists of piezoelectric rods embedded in an ...

The combination of a neodymium borohydride, Nd(BH4)3(THF)3 (1) or Cp*Nd(BH4)2(THF)x (2), with MgBuEt (BEM), affords an efficient and highly selective (up to 96.7% 1,4-trans) catalyst for butadiene polymerization. In the presence of excesses of Mg co-catalyst, polymer chain transfer takes place between neodymium and magnesium, and significant amounts of 1,2-units are observed. When considered fo...

Fluorinated carbon-based thin films offer a wide range of properties for many technological applications that depend on the microstructure of the films. To gain a better understanding on the role of fluorine in the structural formation of these films, CFx systems based on graphenelike fragments were studied by first principles calculations. Generally, the F concentration determines the type of ...

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Complex fluids such as emulsions, colloidal gels, polymer or surfactant solutions are all characterized by the existence of a "microstructure" which may couple to an external flow on time scales that are easily probed in experiments. Such a coupling between flow and microstructure usually leads to instabilities under relatively weak shear flows that correspond to vanishingly small Reynolds numb...