International Conference on Polymer Science and Engineering August 22-24 2016 New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Balázs Pásztói received his Master’s Degree in Chemistry with outstanding degree in 2015. During his studies he presented his scientific work in student and also international conferences. He participated in the National Conference of Scientific Students’ Associations, where his results were honored with Second Prize. After his graduation, he is continuing his studies as a PhD student

Research and development of functional macromolecules is one of the most investigated topics in modern polymer science. Due to the large scale of potential compounds it is a real challenge to prepare new types of structures for a variety of applications. The synthesis of polymers often needs a multi-step process which includes a large excess of reagents and solvents. Quasiliving polymerization methods were used by us to prepare well-defined functional polymers with narrow molecular weight distributions. By quasiliving polymerizations, it is possible to design the structure and the average molecular weight of macromolecules. To reach the final products, several subsequent modification steps were carried out. Requirements for these functionalization reactions are quantitative conversion, high yield, regioselectivity and using new alternative reagents, solvents instead of traditional compounds, which are often harmful for human health and environment, not to mention their sensitivity to air and moisture. Carrying out multi-step modification reactions in one pot would result in both synthetic and economic advantages, such as using less reagents and solvents, saving reaction time and purification of intermediate products. Examples will be presented for several one-pot multi-step endfunctionalization reactions of polymers obtained by quasiliving polymerization processes.

Dong Min Kim has completed his PhD in 2004 from University of Wisiconsin-Madison and postdoctoral studies from University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Materials Science and Engineering in. He is the professor at the the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in Hongik University South Korea. He has published more than 50 papers in reputed journals and has been studied in Solar cells and Fuel cell in renewabel energy area.

Many efforts have been focused on the development of high-energy-density power source to power ever-increasing demand of portable devices. Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are efficient and clean electrochemical power devices that have the potential for applications in energy conversion and storage. The PEMFC can be operated at a low temperature about 80˚C and can be applied mobile electric source such as Laptop, Motor vehicles, etc. After the invention of fuel cell by Sir Grove in 1839, Pt-based catalysts were used as the most common electrode materials for the oxygen-reduction reaction (ORR). However, its deficiency and high price drive to develop new non–precious metal catalysts which are potentially less expensive and more abundant. In 1964, Jasinski observed catalytic activity of cobalt phthalocyanine to the ORR. Many methods have been tried to create practical non-precious metal catalysts (NPMCs). Many studies have shown that the reaction of the nitrogen atoms and non-precious transition metals into nano carbon materials can improve the electrocatalytic performance. Commonly, nitrogen-doped carbon materials can be fabricated by two methods: (i) directly doping during the synthesis of carbon materials and (ii) post-treatment of the as prepared carbon materials with nitrogen precursor. Especially, nitrogen and transition metal containing carbon composites fabricated via pyrolysis of precursors containing metal salts, nitrogen, and macrocyclic compounds have been demonstrated to be active in catalyzing ORR. Transition metals such as Co and Fe to improve the performance will require a robust method for increasing the reactivity of the metal ion through ligation. In this study, we sprayed graphene on carbon paper (CP) by spray method. A Cobalt (Co)-based electrocatalysts were fabricated by sputter deposition on graphene oxide layered carbon paper (GO/CP) and heat treatment in an ammonia (NH3) environment. The fabricated Co/N/Go/CP was investigated as an electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in PEMFC by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical Impedance spectroscopy (EIS).

Ho Suk Choi completed his PhD from the Department of Chemical Engineering of Purdue University in May, 1995. After short post-doctoral research at the Department of Chemistry of Purdue University, he joined to the Chungnam National University as a faculty member in September, 1995. Now, he serves as the Director of university specialization project in the field of energy materials and processes. He has published more than 160 papers in reputed journals.

We first report an innovative method, which we refer to as interfacial liquid plasma polymerization, to chemically cross-link ionic liquids (ILs). By this method, a series of all-solid state, free-standing polymer electrolytes are successfully fabricated where ILs are used as building blocks and ethylene oxide-based surfactants are employed as an assisted-crosslinking agent. The thickness of the film is controlled by the plasma exposure time or the ratio of surfactant to ILs. The chemical structure and properties of the polymer electrolyte are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Importantly, the underlying polymerization mechanism of the crosslinked IL-based polymer electrolyte is studied to show that fluoroborate or halide anions of ILs together with the aid of a small amount of surfactants having ethylene oxide groups is necessary to form crosslinked network structures of the polymer electrolyte. The ionic conductivity of the obtained polymer electrolyte is 2.28×10-3 Scm-1, which is a relatively high value for solid polymer electrolytes synthesized at room temperature. This study can serve as a cornerstone for developing all-solid state polymer electrolytes with promising properties for next-generation electrochemical devices.

Nurettin Sahiner has completed his PhD in 2005 from Tulane University and did postdoctoral studies at University of Delaware at Materials Science and Engineering, and at Tulane University School of Medicine, Biochemsitry. He is the director of Nanoscience and Technology Research and Application Center. He has published more than 150 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member for few journals

Tris(2-aminoethyl)amine-co-glycerol diglycidyl ether, p(TAEA-co-GDE), microgel was synthesized from tris(2-aminoethyl)amine (TAEA) and glycerol diglycidyl ether (GDE) in one step via microemulsion polymerization methods. The prepared p(TAEA-co-GDE) microgel was used as template for in situ Co and Ni nanoparticle preparation within the microgel matrix by loading the corresponding metal ions from aqueous solutions. Then, these metal ions loaded p(TAEA-co-GDE) were treated with NaBH4 to prepare metal nanoparticle containing p(TAEA-co-GDE)-M (M: Co, Ni) composite system. The prepared microgel composite were used as effective catalyst in the hydrolysis of NaBH4 for H2 generation. The H2 production reaction kinetics were investigated under different reaction conditions and various parameters such as the initial NaBH4 concentration, temperature, the catalyst amounts and the types were evaluated. The activation energies for the hydrolysis of NaBH4 were calculated.