From LC-polymers to Nanomedicines: Different Aspects of Polymer Science from a Materials Viewpoint

Abstract

This essay compiles the work of the author on i) liquid crystalline (LC)-polymers (including LC-elastomers, ferroelectric LCs and LC-particles), on ii) switchable helical polymers, on iii) polymer based opals, on iv) organic – inorganic hybrids for the improvement of quantum dot light emitting diodes or for battery applications as well as on v) polymeric carriers for biomedical applications (e.g. nanomedicine for tumor-immune-therapy). From the chemical side this work is based the use of various polymerization techniques including—as more special techniques—a) “surfactant-free emulsion polymerization” to prepare extremely monodisperse polymer colloids, b) controlled radical polymerization (RAFT) to prepare functional block-copolymers and c) photoinitiated polymerization, to start polymerization and/or crosslinking at a defined space and time during processing.