Michael Weir
Phone: 61 2 9717 7345
Email: michael.weir@ansto.gov.au
Mike Weir is a post-doctoral research fellow funded by the Cooperative Research Centre for Polymers (CRC-P). His research interests are in the characterisation of nanoscale structure in functional or responsive polymers. His role is to develop the use of the Bragg Institutes neutron and x-ray scattering facilities within the CRC-Ps portfolio of research projects.
Mikes background is in polymers at surfaces and interfaces. He obtained his Ph.D. in June 2010 from the University of Sheffield (UK) in the Polymer Physics group under the supervision of Prof. Richard Jones FRS. His project studied responsive polymer brushes, investigating the use of applied voltages to control the conformation of weak polyelectrolyte brushes, with a view to creating remotely-controlled responsive surface coatings. Polymer brushes were synthesised using atom transfer radical polymerisation (ATRP) and characterised using atomic force microscopy, ellipsometry and neutron reflectivity.
Mike performed his undergraduate studies at the University of Nottingham (UK) gaining a M.Sci. in Physics (1st class) , undertaking a final year project in pattern formation in thin-film polymer bilayers under the supervision of Dr. James Sharp.
Publications:
Sharp, J.S., Thomas, K.R. and Weir, M.P., Mechanically driven wrinkling instability in thin film polymer bilayers, Physical Review E 75, 011601, 2007
Edmondson, S., Vo, C.-D., Armes, S. P., Unali, G.-F. and Weir, M. P., Layer-by-layer deposition of polyelectrolyte macroinitiators for enhanced initiator density in surface-initiated ATRP, Langmuir 24, 7208-7215, 2008