Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xiaolin Lyu, Zhehao Tang, Yujie Li, Anqi Xiao, Zhihao Shen, Shijun Zheng, Xing-He Fan
Summary: Understanding the structural control of block copolymer particles is crucial for determining their properties and utilities. By selecting an appropriate selective solvent, spherical polymer particles with ordered network structures can be prepared through self-assembly. In an emulsion confined space, the relatively large particle size compared to periodicity ratio is essential for accurately controlling the internal structure.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Minji Seo, Hayeon Kim, Eunji Lee, Sheng Li
Summary: Hybrid conjugates containing synthetic polymers and saccharides were synthesized and studied. It was found that the saccharide-containing conjugates can form ordered domain structures, with morphology transitioning from cylinders to spheres to disordered spheres with decreasing saccharide weight fraction. Additionally, the saccharide-containing conjugates undergo irreversible morphology changes at high temperatures due to saccharide dehydration.
Article
Polymer Science
Quan H. Tran, Eliza K. Neidhart, Sergei S. Sheiko, Wim Bras, Frank A. Leibfarth
Summary: Chemical upcycling of plastic waste into high-value ionomers has been achieved through amidyl radical-mediated C-H functionalization, enabling the incorporation of ionizable functionality onto various polyolefin substrates. The resulting materials exhibit enhanced melt strength and tensile toughness, contributing to a more sustainable plastic economy.
Review
Polymer Science
Naisheng Jiang, Donghui Zhang
Summary: Polypeptoids, a class of synthetic peptidomimetic polymers, have the potential for biotechnological applications and can self-assemble into various nanostructures with tailorable morphologies and functionalities.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Shaofei Song, Hang Zhou, Ian Manners, Mitchell A. Winnik
Summary: The study demonstrates that BCPs with polydisperse corona chains can lead to a broad range of uniform structures in a single pot via a single heating-cooling-aging process, potentially opening doors to useful applications.
Article
Polymer Science
Ying Xu, Jun Yang, Zong-Fa Liu, Zhi-Ping Zhou, Zhao-Peng Liang, Tong-Fan Hao, Yi-Jing Nie
Summary: The study found that the volume fraction of beads of different blocks in asymmetric diblock copolymers is a key factor controlling the formation of stereocomplex crystallites, and the stereocomplex content can be regulated by adjusting the difference between the contents of beads of different blocks.
CHINESE JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Panagiotis A. Klonos, Alexandra Evangelopoulou, Zoi Terzopoulou, Alexandra Zamboulis, Miguel Angel Valera, Ana Mangas, Apostolos Kyritsis, Dimitrios N. Bikiaris
Summary: This work investigates the molecular mobility in renewable block copolymers and the non-trivial effects resulting from crystallization. Various tests were conducted to evaluate the overall thermal behavior, semicrystalline morphology, and molecular mobility under different thermal treatments. The results show that crystallization leads to increased molecular dynamics and suppressed cooperativity, and the impact is stronger in the cold-crystallization process compared to the melt-crystallization process.
Article
Polymer Science
Jialin Qiu, Xuejian Chen, Amy N. Le, Carlos R. Lopez-Barron, Brian J. Rohde, Ronald P. White, Jane E. G. Lipson, Ramanan Krishnamoorti, Megan L. Robertson
Summary: Thermodynamic interactions were studied in blends of melts containing 1,4-polyisoprene (1,4-PI) and copolymers of 1,2-polybutadiene (1,2-PBD), poly(ethyl ethylene) (PEE), and/or polyethylene (PE) units. The Flory-Huggins interaction parameter, chi, was measured using small angle neutron scattering (SANS), and the data were analyzed through different models to understand the behavior. Random copolymer theory (RCT) successfully described the behavior in 1,2-PBD-co-PEE/1,4-PI blends, but failed in PE-co-PEE/1,4-PI blends. The locally correlated lattice model showed promise in describing the phase behavior of PE-co-PEE/1,4-PI blends.
Article
Polymer Science
Jaechul Ju, Arthi Jayaraman, Ryan C. Hayward
Summary: Supramolecular block copolymers have been extensively studied for their special ability to respond to external stimuli and alter their self-assembled structures. In this study, the researchers explored the use of phenol (Ph) and pyridine (Py) as pendant groups on polystyrene (PS) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) chains to introduce hydrogen bonding interactions. By tuning the number of hydrogen bonding groups, they observed a transition from macrophase separation to microphase separation at low temperatures. The formation of disordered nanostructures and a reversible change in domain spacing were also observed.
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
A. Catarina V. D. dos Santos, Davide Tranchida, Bernhard Lendl, Georg Ramer
Summary: The routine analysis of polymer blends at the nanoscale usually requires electron microscopy techniques. The tapping mode AFM-IR, a recent technique that combines AFM's resolution with chemical information, is useful for analyzing highly heterogeneous samples.
Article
Polymer Science
Brian J. Ree, Yusuke Satoh, Takuya Isono, Toshifumi Satoh
Summary: In this study, the morphological investigation of cyclic and tadpole-shaped block copolymers on nanoscale films was conducted using synchrotron grazing-incidence X-ray scattering. It was found that the nonlinear copolymers formed highly ordered and unidirectional nanostructures with significantly shorter d-spacing compared to their linear counterparts. The study suggests that cyclic and tadpole topologies can be effectively utilized in developing highly ordered nanomaterials.
Article
Polymer Science
Yuanyuan Dou, Nan Tian, Zhenbo Ning, Ni Jiang, Zhihua Gan
Summary: This study introduces a new method for synthesizing poly(e-caprolactone)-block-PA6-block-poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL-b-PA6-b-PCL) triblock polyesteramides under mild conditions. The properties of the copolymers were found to be strongly influenced by their composition. Additionally, it was discovered that the PA6 nanodomains could act as physical cross-linking points to improve the performance of PCL.
Article
Polymer Science
Yoshihiko Shiraki, Masayuki Saito, Norifumi L. Yamada, Kohzo Ito, Hideaki Yokoyama
Summary: Polyolefins, the most widely used plastics globally, have poor adhesion due to the lack of polar groups, which poses challenges for recycling. In this study, a novel adhesion system using a polyurethane adhesive and an untreated polyolefin was described, where the interface is tightly bound by needle-like polyolefin crystals similar to nails adhering to wood. The polyurethane and polyolefin inter-diffuse at high temperatures, forming a mixed interfacial layer that recrystallizes upon cooling. Polyurethanes with optimally balanced non-polar and polar blocks exhibit superior adhesion due to their larger miscibility windows, polyolefin compatibilities, and the resulting long needle-like polyolefin crystals.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yue Zhang, Changlan Xu, Daowen Zhang, Xiaoai Chen
Summary: Nanoscale proteinosomes were fabricated through molecular recognition between CD-BSA and adamantyl group anchored at the junction of a thermoresponsive block copolymer. The self-assembly of two PDEGMA copolymers into polymersomes led to the formation of miktoarm star-like bioconjugates. These bioconjugates self-assembled into proteinosomes above their LCSTs, maintaining the secondary structure and esterase activity of BSA. The proteinosomes showed low toxicity and could deliver doxorubicin into 4T1 cells.
Article
Polymer Science
Shuanhu Qi, Leonid Klushin, Alexander M. Skvortsov, Friederike Schmid
Summary: The study reconsiders a smart responsive brush design based on conformational transition in block copolymers, demonstrating robust features and a surprising universality in transition properties related to the adsorption state.
Article
Polymer Science
Jared P. Klein, Richard A. Register
JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE PART B-POLYMER PHYSICS
(2019)
Article
Polymer Science
Adam B. Burns, Dane Christie, William D. Mulhearn, Richard A. Register
JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE PART B-POLYMER PHYSICS
(2019)
Article
Polymer Science
Emily E. Abdo, SeongHyuk Cho, Richard A. Register
Editorial Material
Polymer Science
Richard A. Register
Article
Polymer Science
Philipp von Tiedemann, Jiaqi Yan, Ramona D. Barent, Richard J. Spontak, George Floudas, Holger Frey, Richard A. Register
Article
Polymer Science
Yucheng Wang, Kaichen Gu, Anishkumar Soman, Tingyi Gu, Richard A. Register, Yueh-Lin Loo, Rodney D. Priestley
Article
Polymer Science
Sravya Jangareddy, Richard A. Register
Article
Polymer Science
Sravya Jangareddy, Thomas Sun, Adam B. Burns, Richard A. Register
Summary: Experimental comparison between interaction energy densities measured on model polydiene-polyolefin blends (X-blend) and analogous block copolymers (X-BC) shows that random incorporation of styrene units into the saturated polybutadiene chain significantly enhances its compatibility with polyisoprene.
Article
Polymer Science
Seong Hyuk Cho, Istvan Pelczer, Richard A. Register
Summary: Isotopically labeling polymer chains for small-angle neutron scattering requires even distributions of deuterium, which can be achieved using homogeneous catalysts like Wilkinson's for statistically uniform labeling. However, alternative catalysts may induce significant net H/D exchange, resulting in nonuniform distributions of deuterium.
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Yucheng Wang, Jason X. Liu, Kaichen Gu, Anishkumar Soman, Tingyi Gu, Craig B. Arnold, Richard A. Register, Yueh-Lin Loo, Rodney D. Priestley
Summary: The morphology and orientation of polymer crystals are crucial in polymer-based technologies. We used polymer-substrate epitaxy and matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE) to achieve a highly oriented crystalline morphology. MAPLE allows for improved control over crystalline morphology and growth of crystalline lamellae.
POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Polymer Science
Jared P. Klein, Zachary M. Gdowski, Richard A. Register
Summary: Polynorbornene synthesized by ring-opening metathesis polymerization can undergo epimerization during hydrogenation, producing semi-crystalline hydrogenated polymers with varying levels of trans configuration. As the trans content increases, the glass transition temperature, melting point, and enthalpy of melting decrease modestly, while the crystal transitions from rotationally ordered to disordered at higher trans contents. The Young's modulus at room temperature is not affected by the trans content, while the yield stress decreases gradually with increasing epimerization. The temperature dependence of the Young's modulus varies between trans-containing and all-cis polymers, while the temperature dependence of the yield stress is influenced by the polymorph type.
JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Polymer Science
Seong Hyuk Cho, Richard A. Register
Summary: The failure mode of low glass transition temperature polymers were studied and the influence of tie molecules (TM) on brittle fracture stress was examined. The increase in TM content with decreasing crystallinity led to a transition from brittle to ductile behavior in the material.
Correction
Polymer Science
Sravya Jangareddy, Thomas Sun, Adam B. Burns, Richard A. Register
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Douglas M. Scott, Arash Nikoubashman, Richard A. Register, Rodney D. Priestley, Robert K. Prud'homme
Summary: Polymeric colloids have potential in a wide range of applications, and this work expands the capabilities of flash nanoprecipitation (FNP) to produce charged polystyrene colloids using sulfonated polystyrene ionomers as stabilizers. Experimental exploration of formulation parameters shows that increasing the ionomer content reduces particle size and expands the processable material throughput of FNP. The degree of sulfonation affects stabilization, with optimal performance achieved by selecting ionomers with intermediate sulfonation. Simulations and experimental data support a proposed design formulation relation. This work highlights the potential of ionomer-based stabilizers for scalable production of charged NP dispersions.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jason X. Liu, Navid Bizmark, Douglas M. Scott, Richard A. Register, Mikko P. Haataja, Sujit S. Datta, Craig B. Arnold, Rodney D. Priestley
Summary: Polymer colloids appear in a variety of contexts and understanding the mechanism of structure formation in polymer colloids is crucial to their function and application. The specific pathway from precipitation to vitrification dictates the resulting morphology of colloids fabricated from polymer blends. The understanding of these pathways is critical to designing functional structured polymer colloids.