Jérémy BRASSINE has received the 2016 IMCN Best thesis Award on May 20, 2016.
His work was entitled "Utilization of metallo-supramolecular interactions to control the structure, self-organization and dynamic of stimuli-responsive polymeric systems".
This Prize, which is granted yearly by the IMCN Institute, rewards the most outstanding PhD work among those who graduated during the previous civil year (2015 in the present case). A selection Committee chaired by Prof. Patrick Bertrand and composed of one member per pole and the VPR noticed the high quantity and quality of research carried out by Jérémy, as well as his communication skills at various levels (conferences, publications, PhD defense). This initiative aims at promoting excellence in scientific research within the Institute.
This interdisciplinary PhD thesis arose in the context of challenging technological developments, namely smart and healable materials. In this research, the combination of metal–ligand interactions with classical macromolecular architectures has proved to be a straightforward approach towards supramolecular multi-responsive hydrogels thanks to the hierarchical organization of ligand-functionalized block copolymers obtained via controlled polymerization techniques. Depending on the characteristics of these molecular building blocks, the intermolecular forces involved in the multiple assembly processes were fine-tuned in order to control the rheology of the materials.
The fundamental relationships between material structure, dynamics and mechanics were established through a comprehensive characterization of their rich rheological behavior. In addition, both structure and dynamics were capable of adjustments in response to a wide variety of stimuli including temperature, chemical environment, and mechanical stress. By defining an original strategy for designing novel materials and exploring their potential, this thesis has thus offered exciting new opportunities toward stimuli-responsive structures exhibiting tunable properties. The research project has been carried out under the supervision of Profs. C.-A. Fustin and J.-F. Gohy within the BSMA pole of our Institute.
