Living Polymerization in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide / RAFT controlled living microparticles

This research aims to harness expertise present in Nottingham and in Leeds to develop a new technique to produce synthetic materials based on polymers. We will develop novel routes to block copolymer microparticles with controlled molecular weight through use of RAFT dispersion polymerization in scCO2. Our approach has the potential to broaden significantly the application of both scCO2 and RAFT, thus creating important new routes to novel materials that should easily scale to commercialisation. We believe that our application is timely and that the scientific benefits will extend from the training of the two PDRA researchers through to the two Universities and to UK plc, thus making the project excellent value for money.