Physics colloquium spring 2025
All Colloquia will take place on Thursdays at 1:30pm
Location: 111 Smith Hall.
Schedule Fall 2024
Date | Description |
---|---|
January 16 | No colloquium: first week of school |
January 23 | No colloquium: first week of labs |
January 30 | Speaker: Dr. Ramlo, University of Akron Title: TBA Host: Carrie |
February 6 | No colloquium |
February 13 | TBA |
February 20 | No colloquium |
February 27 | TBA |
March 6 | No colloquium |
March 13 | No colloquium: Spring break |
March 20 | No colloquium: APS March meeting |
March 27 | No colloquium |
April 3 | Speaker: Dr. Xue, University of Mississippi Title: Exploring Formation Mechanisms through Quantum Mechanical Computations. Abstract: As the largest class of inorganic macromolecules, polyphosphazenes have unique backbones that contain alternating nitrogen and phosphorus atoms. Starting from the chlorinated parent polymer, polyphosphazenes have tunable properties and hence are widely applied in different fields. However, in contrast to the intense functionalization and application studies, few works have reported the polymerization mechanism to explain the intricacies of the reaction process. Despite the advancements in sophisticated analytical chemistry techniques and cutting-edge technologies, seizing and analyzing the high-energy reaction intermediates remains a formidable challenge although numerous attempts have been made. As a result, the lack of understanding of the reaction mechanism has significantly plagued the refinements and developments of polymer synthesis and hence hindered the bulk use of novel materials. This presentation will give a quick walk through of the recent efforts in exploration of the monomer formation, ring-opening (ROP) and ring-ring expansion (RR) of [PCl2N]3 using quantum mechanical calculations. These findings can provide invaluable guidance for further experimental mechanistic studies through instrumental analysis, and also shed light on some mysteries that have remained elusive in over 200 years of chlorophosphazene research. Specifically, what are potential "tadpole" compounds, what can trigger crosslinking reactions and why there is a coexistence of linear and cyclic products in polymer synthesis. Host: Carrie |
April 10 | No colloquium |
April 17 | Speaker: Prof. Rob Pisarski, Brookhaven National Laboratory Title: TBA Host: CNR |
April 24 | No colloquium |
May 1 | No colloquium: week before finals |