Photopolymerization kinetics of nanostructured polymers templated by lyotropic liquid crystals

Nanostructured materials have been the focus of much attention due to their applicability in nanocomposites, separations media, drug delivery devices, and many other applications requiring a nanometer size scale. Recently, using lyotropic liquid crystalline (LLC) phases to template their unique nanostructure onto organic polymers has been proposed. This work details the photopolymerization of acrylamide in various phases of LLC systems. The photopolymerization kinetics are correlated to monomer organization for different phases at a variety of concentrations and temperatures. The photopolymerization kinetics of acrylamide in the LLC phases depend strongly on the LLC morphology. The polymerization rates are significantly faster in compositions of surfactant resulting in a hexagonal geometry as the acrylamide monomer is preferentially oriented. These results indicate that acrylamide is strongly associated with the LLC interface and the surfactant. Photopolymerization of these templated systems results in structure retention of the parent, LLC phase.