Bill Euler Home Page

Bill Euler Publications

URI Chemistry Department

Research Interests

The research in my laboratory is in the area of materials science. We approach this from a chemist's perspective so we focus on the structural and reactivity aspects of materials at the atomic level, especially in polymers. It is our goal to tailor systems at the molecular level in order to achieve materials useful for specific applications. Research in my group spans synthesis to spectroscopy, supplemented by theoretical calculations to more fully understand the properties we measure. Two examples of our research are described below.

We have recently become interested in using carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in sensor and actuator applications. One way we approached this problem was to coat single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) onto the ionomeric polymer nafion. When an electrical signal is applied to the SWNT electrodes, the composite material actuates at modest voltages (turn-on at ~3.5 V). In a remarkable discovery, these same bilayer composites exhibit significant actuation when illuminated by visible and near IR light. The photoactuation in these SWNT/nafion bilayer composites is unusually large and appears to arise from an unprescented mechanism. This work is being done in collaboration with Emitech, Inc.

A new area of research that we have begun pursuing is in the area of soft multiferroic materials. Multiferroics are materials that simultaneously exhibit two or more "ferro" properties, i.e. ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism, or ferroelasticity. Our work with ferroelectric polymers, typified by poly(vinylidene difluoride) (PVDF), suggested that we may be able to create composites that could be multiferroic. By doping PVDF with magnetic transition metal ions we hope to induce a coupling between the magnetic moment of the transition metal with the electric moment of the polymer. Our initial experiments using Co(NO₃)₂ as the dopant have indicated that the S = 3/2 Co²⁺ can become ferromagnetic in the composite. Further, the ionic salt also induces the PVDF to crystallize in the ferroelectric beta–phase. Experiments to determine the extent of coupling between the magnetic and electric moments are being planned. This work is being done in collaboration with scientists from the Senors Directorate at Hanscom Air Force Base.