Armes, Steven P. - University of Sheffield

个人简介

Prof. Steve Armes obtained his BSc in Chemistry from the University of Bristol in 1983, which was followed by a PhD from the same institution in 1987. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico (1987-89), he became a lecturer at Sussex University in 1989. After being promoted to Senior Lecturer, Reader and Professor in Polymer Chemistry, he moved to Sheffield in 2004 to become Professor in Polymer and Colloid Chemistry. He is currently Director of the Sheffield Polymer Centre and Farapack Polymers, a University spin-out company. He was elected to be a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2014.

研究领域

Polymer Chemistry We use living radical polymerisation techniques such as Reversible Addition-Fragmentation chain Transfer (RAFT) and Atom Transfer Radical Polymerisation (ATRP) to synthesise a wide range of controlled-structure, methacrylate-based water-soluble polymers. Block copolymers and their micellar self-assembly in aqueous solution are of particular interest: we are currently exploring the principles of polymerisation-induced self-assembly (PISA) to prepare a range of diblock copolymer-based ‘nano-objects’ in concentrated aqueous solution. Depending on the precise diblock copolymer curvature, such ‘nano-objects’ can possess either spherical, worm-like (see TEM image opposite) or vesicular morphologies. We now are establishing fundamental design rules for the rational design of such ‘nano-objects’ and we seek to exploit our enhanced understanding in order to generalise this powerful PISA approach to produce robust, reproducible formulations for both polar and non-polar solvents, as well as water. Colloid Chemistry We prepare a broad range of microscopic conducting polymer-based particles, including conducting polymer-coated latexes, conducting polymer-silica nanocomposite particles and sterically-stabilised conducting polymer particles. Such particles are proving to be useful synthetic mimics for carbonaceous and silicate-based micro-meteorites: we collaborate informally with space scientists based in the UK, Germany and the USA to aid their interpretation of data collected during various space missions (e.g. Cassini and Stardust). Polypyrrole particles also have potential biomedical applications as contrast agents in optical coherence tomography. We have pioneered the use of ultrafine aqueous silica sols in order to prepare a range of vinyl polymer-silica nanocomposite particles. Film-forming nanocomposite compositions can be prepared using acrylic monomers, which enable the production of tough, transparent, scratch-resistant coatings. Other recent examples include the synthesis of novel sterically-stabilised pH-responsive microgels, surface polymerisation of stimulus-responsive polymer brushes from planar surfaces and the evaluation of various latexes, microgels and nanocomposite particles as `Pickering´ emulsifiers for the production of both oil-in-water emulsions and also covalently cross-linked colloidosomes.

近期论文

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Mable CJ, Thompson KL, Derry MJ, Mykhaylyk OO, Binks BP & Armes SP (2016) ABC Triblock Copolymer Worms: Synthesis, Characterization, and Evaluation as Pickering Emulsifiers for Millimeter-Sized Droplets. Macromolecules, 49(20), 7897-7907. View this article in WRRO Yang P, Mykhaylyk OO, Jones ER & Armes SP (2016) RAFT Dispersion Alternating Copolymerization of Styrene with N-Phenylmaleimide: Morphology Control and Application as an Aqueous Foam Stabilizer. Macromolecules, 49(18), 6731-6742. View this article in WRRO Ning Y, Fielding LA, Ratcliffe LPD, Wang Y-W, Meldrum FC & Armes SP (2016) Occlusion of Sulfate-based Diblock Copolymer Nanoparticles within Calcite: Effect of Varying the Surface Density of Anionic Stabilizer Chains. Journal of the American Chemical Society. View this article in WRRO Penfold NJW, Lovett JR, Verstraete P, Smets J & Armes SP (2016) Stimulus-responsive non-ionic diblock copolymers: protonation of a tertiary amine end-group induces vesicle-to-worm or vesicle-to-sphere transitions. Polymer Chemistry. View this article in WRRO Derry MJ, Fielding LA, Warren NJ, Mable CJ, Smith AJ, Mykhaylyk OO & Armes SP (2016) In situ small-angle X-ray scattering studies of sterically-stabilized diblock copolymer nanoparticles formed during polymerization-induced self-assembly in non-polar media. Chemical Science, 7, 5078-5090. View this article in WRRO Akpinar B, Fielding LA, Cunningham VJ, Ning Y, Mykhaylyk OO, Fowler PW & Armes SP (2016) Determining the Effective Density and Stabilizer Layer Thickness of Sterically Stabilized Nanoparticles. Macromolecules. View this article in WRRO Jiang S, Mable CJ, Armes SP & Crespy D (2016) Directed Assembly of Soft Anisotropic Nanoparticles by Colloid Electrospinning.. Macromol Rapid Commun, 37(19), 1598-1602. View this article in WRRO Ratcliffe L, Couchon C, Armes SP & Paulusse JMJ (2016) Inducing an order-order morphological transition via chemical degradation of amphiphilic diblock copolymer nano-objects. Biomacromolecules, 17(6), 2277-2283. View this article in WRRO