Laboratory of Microstructured Polymer Materials

Microgels are submicron–sized particles whose internal structure is a three-dimensional crosslinked polymer mesh. Thermo- and pH-sensitive, they attract great attention due to the unique properties of these objects: on the one hand, microgels are able to form solutions of microparticles stable to aggregation; on the other, they change their conformational state in response to changing environmental conditions. This opens up broad prospects for the creation of functional objects and materials based on microgels: stabilizing surfactants, drug carriers, photonic crystals, superabsorbents. But it is very difficult to see these objects.

Active matter is a medium of particles capable of directional motion when absorbing energy. The diversity of active matter encompasses both synthetic and living systems, including active gels, cytoskeleton, cells and tissues, synthetic and biological microfowl, and even herds of animals. When such particles are combined into polymer chains, the complexity of the behavior of active systems increases significantly and completely new effects appear at various scales, the causes of which remain largely unclear. As part of the work in this area, students will explore the mechanisms of self-organization in solutions of active homopolymers and copolymers consisting of “beads” of various activities.