Symposium SM8-Advanced Polymers

Research in the field of polymeric materials is often motivated by complex demands of modern applications. Polymeric materials offer various structural parameters on different levels to adjust their properties and functions: the chemical structure of the repeating units, their chain segment length in polymer network architectures, and the (self-)assembly of macromolecules on the supramolecular level.

Multifunctional materials can be designed as hybrid structures (e.g. (nano)composites, block cpolymers, blends, protein-polymer hybrids, fibrillar or multilayer constructs), in which distinct phases separately or synergistically contribute to the overall performance. These hybrid structures can be further enhanced by the possibility of an hierarchical organization of the structural constituents at various length scales ranging from the molecular to nano-, micro- or even the macro lengthscale, by employing modern processing techniques such as 3D-printing.

Multifunctionality of materials may be realized through a biological inspiration of their structure and interactions; or through the presence of natural or biologically active components, e.g. in biobased polymers (such as programmable DNA nanostructures); or via a complex but controlled physical behavior, e.g. actively moving polymers (shape-memory effect, shape-changing capability).

Additional functions span through electrical/thermal conductivity, REDOX behavior, (bio)sensing, temperature-dependent behavior, bio-compatibility and/or degradability, bioresponsive drug delivery and self-healing capability.

• Functional nanocomposites / multimaterial systems
• Shape-memory polymers / shape-changing polymers
• Functional nano/microobjects
• Biodegradable polymers / biobased materials
• Stimuli-sensitive gels / biomimetic approaches for creating functions (including self-assembly)
• Stimuli-sensitive composites in inorganic/polymeric materials for molecular/cellular sensing, manipulation, stimulation and analysis

• SM8_Advanced Polymers_0 (Graz University of Technology, Austria)
• SM8_Advanced Polymers_1 (University of Texas at Austin, USA)
• SM8_Advanced Polymers_2 (Stanford University, USA)
• SM8_Advanced Polymers_3 (MedShape, Inc., USA)
• SM8_Advanced Polymers_4 (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
• SM8_Advanced Polymers_5 (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
• SM8_Advanced Polymers_6 (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)
• SM8_Advanced Polymers_7 (University of Florida, USA)
• SM8_Advanced Polymers_8 (University of Manchester, United Kingdom)
• SM8_Advanced Polymers_9 (Cornell University, USA)
• SM8_Advanced Polymers_10 (University of Tokyo, Japan)