Mechanochemical Synthesis of Functional Microgels

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Andrij Pich
• Subject Area: Polymer Materials ; Preparatory and Physical Chemistry of Polymers
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 564001847

The main scientific goal of this research project is to gain fundamental understanding of mechanochemical polymerizations in ball mills to develop new routes for targeted synthesis of functional microgels. The specific focus of this research project is on the mechanochemical free-radical polymerization reactions of vinyl monomers, which are commercially available and can be used for the synthesis of microgels with tailored chemical compositions. In addition, the mechanochemical post-modifications of microgels with functional synthetic and biological molecules to integrate specific chemical functionalities into microgel surface will be explored. The key questions we will address in this research project are: -what is the mechanism of the free-radical polymerization and crosslinking in ball mills? -what is the mechanism of microgel nucleation and growth during mechanochemical synthesis? -is it possible to co-polymerize monomers of different polarity and reactivity to synthesize microgels with tailored chemical structures, variable amount of crosslinks, controlled size and tunable morphologies using mechanochemistry? The mechanistic studies to disclose the mechanism of initiation, chain propagation and termination reactions during ball milling will be performed. The reaction kinetics of free radical homo- and co-polymerizations as well as the mechanism of microgels nucleation and growth in ball mill will be studied. The syntheses of microgels with different crosslinkers and monomers will be realized to evaluate the role of their chemical structure on initiation and microgel nucleation processes. Finally, the post-modification of pre-synthesized microgels with synthetic and biological molecules via ball-milling will be investigated. The exploration of the microgel synthesis and post-modification using ball milling will open new perspectives for the development of sustainable polymerization processes. Such processes may pave the way to new microgels with unique structures and morphologies. Ball milling is easy up-scalable process and mechanochemical polymerizations can be implemented into industrial processes. Finally, mechanochemical synthesis may provide a unique chance to use bio-based building blocks for the synthesis of recyclable or fully degradable microgels, which are not easily accessible at the moment.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Major Instrumentation: In-situ Raman Spektrometer
• Instrumentation Group: 1840 Raman-Spektrometer