Abstract:

Protective hybrid films and coatings comprising inorganic and organic components tailored at molecular length scales are used in a wide range of emerging technologies. These range from protective transparent coatings for ophthalmic lenses, plastic windows and stretchable electronics, display and photovoltaic devices, membranes in fuel cells and batteries, dielectric layers in microelectronics and adhesive layers in high-performance laminates. In all case, characterizing and modeling thermomechanical reliability is paramount.

I will describe our research by showcasing examples of molecular engineering to achieve organosilicate glass films and coatings with unprecedented combinations of mechanical and optoelectronic properties. We demonstrate some much unexpected thermomechanical properties that derive from the network connectivity and the role of precursor geometry. We probe the mechanical properties of polymer hybrid coatings in the extreme limits of molecular confinement where a stiff inorganic matrix phase confines the polymer chains to dimensions far smaller than their bulk radius of gyration.

Finally, I report on our internationally recognized open-air spray-plasma capabilities for versatile and low cost coating deposition on large and/or complex shapes in laboratory air and at low temperature. The generally solvent-free process further allows for the simultaneous functionalization of, and deposition on, substrates in a single step.

Biography:

Reinhold H. Dauskardt is the Ruth G. and William K. Bowes Professor of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Surgery in the Stanford School of Medicine. He is a Visiting Professor in the School of Materials Science at the Nanyang Technical University in Singapore.

He and his research group have worked extensively on integrating new hybrid materials into emerging device, nanoscience and energy technologies and also on the biomechanical function and barrier properties of human skin and other soft tissues. He is an internationally recognized expert on reliability and damage processes in device technologies and soft tissues, specifically the biomechanics of human skin and regeneration processes in cutaneous wounds.