Nanofoams are porous grafted polymer film layers that exhibit the performance of shape-memory polymer materials (SMPs). The surface of silicon wafers were used as a substrate and poly(glycidyl methacrylate) (PGMA) was employed as an anchoring polymer layer via dip coating followed by the sequential attachment of the polymers polystyrene (PS) and poly(2-vinyl pyridine) (P2VP) respectively, leading to the formation of a three component polymer nanofoam. The nanofoam was obtained by freeze-drying where polymer films are swollen in chloroform and cooled under vacuum pressure (20-50 mTorr) to sublimate the solvent. The thickness of the nanofoam layers were analyzed using refractive index values collected from a home-built scanning reflectometer before and after nanofoam exposure to one of three volatile organic compounds, including toluene, methanol and acetone, for 40 minutes in a controlled environment. The initial results showed a statistically significant correlation between collapse upon exposure to a particular solvent and its composition. However, external factors that influence collapse of nanofoam with given composition in a specified solvent are yet to be identified. Results of nanofoam collapse upon specific exposure events will lead to future use in industry as sensors to detect chemical warfare agents. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation’s REU program under grant number 1460863, the Clemson University Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (projects HDTRA1-10-1-0101 and HDTRA1-13-1-0001).<br/>

Characterization of nanofoam collapse in response to exposure to volatile organic compounds

251st National Meeting (2016)

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