Mishra, Satish; Prado, Rosa M. Badani; Zhang, Song; Lacy, Thomas E.; Gu, Xiaodan; Kundu, Santanu
Mechanical Properties and Failure Behavior of Physically Assembled Triblock Copolymer Gels with Varying Midblock Length
Mechanical properties including the failure behavior of physically assembled gels or physical gels are governed by their network structure. To investigate such behavior, we consider a physical gel system consisting of poly(styrene)-poly(isoprene)-poly(styrene) in mineral oil. In these gels, the endblock (PS) molecular weights are not significantly different, whereas, the midblock…
Pore formation and evolution mechanism during biaxial stretching of β-iPP used for lithium-ion batteries separator
Ding, Lei; Xu, Ruizhang; Pu, Lian; Yang, Feng; Wu, Tong; Xiang, Ming
The morphological evolution and pore formation mechanism of different kinds of ?-iPP spherulites during biaxial stretching were analyzed. The smaller radial-growth spherulite deforms heterogeneous, causing a faster reduction in ?-crystal content and higher orientation degree during longitudinal stretching, while the bigger spherulite derived from the hedrites deformed more homogeneous due…
Anisotropic polymer nanoparticles with controlled dimensions from the morphological transformation of isotropic seeds
Hua, Zan; Jones, Joseph R.; Thomas, Marjolaine; Arno, Maria C.; Souslov, Anton; Wilks, Thomas R.; OReilly, Rachel K.
Understanding and controlling self-assembly processes at multiple length scales is vital if we are to design and create advanced materials. In particular, our ability to organise matter on the nanoscale has advanced considerably, but still lags far behind our skill in manipulating individual molecules. New tools allowing controlled nanoscale assembly…
Multilayered assembly of poly(vinylidene fluoride) and poly(methyl methacrylate) for achieving multi-shape memory effects
Ji, Xiaoying; Chen, Dayong; Zheng, Yu; Shen, Jiabin; Guo, Shaoyun; Harkin-Jones, Eileen
The alternately-organized poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) multilayer materials were prepared through layer-multiplying coextrusion. With the multiplication of layers, the thickness of each layer was reduced in proportion and the layer interfaces were enriched generating a broader and more continuous thermal transition temperature (Ttrans) from PVDF to PMMA layers
Melt-Spun Nanocomposite Fibers Reinforced with Aligned Tunicate Nanocrystals
Redondo, Alexandre; Chatterjee, Sourav; Brodard, Pierre; Korley, LaShanda T. J.; Weder, Christoph; Gunkel, Ilja; Steiner, Ullrich
The fabrication of nanocomposite films and fibers based on cellulose nanocrystals (P-tCNCs) and a thermoplastic polyurethane (PU) elastomer is reported. High-aspect-ratio P-tCNCs were isolated from tunicates using phosphoric acid hydrolysis, which is a process that affords nanocrystals displaying high thermal stability. Nanocomposites were produced by solvent casting (films) or melt-mixing…
Controlling the pore size in conjugated polymer films via crystallization-driven phase separation
Guo, Shaowen; Lu, Yaguang; Wang, Binghua; Shen, Changyu; Chen, Jingbo; Reiter, Günter; Zhang, Bin
A wide range of possible applications in sensors and optoelectronic devices have focused considerable attention on porous membranes made of semi-conducting polymers. In this study, porous films of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) were conveniently constructed through spin-coating of solutions of a blend of P3HT and polyethylene glycol (PEG). Pores were formed by…
A π-Conjugated, Covalent Phosphinine Framework
Huang, Jieyang; Tarábek, Ján; Kulkarni, Ranjit; Wang, Cui; Dracínský, Martin; Smales, Glen J.; Tian, Yu; Ren, Shijie; Pauw, Brian R.; Resch-Genger, Ute; Bojdys, Michael J.
Structural modularity of polymer frameworks is a key advantage of covalent organic polymers, however, only C, N, O, Si, and S have found their way into their building blocks so far. Here, the toolbox available to polymer and materials chemists is expanded by one additional nonmetal, phosphorus. Starting with a…
Mechanistic understanding of monovalent cation transport in eumelanin pigments
Tian, Zhen; Hwang, Wonseok; Kim, Young Jo
Recent research advances in charge-conducting materials have enabled the transformation of the naturally-occurring materials into crucial components in many technologies, including renewable energy storage devices or bioelectronics. Among various candidates, eumelanins are promising charge storage materials, exhibiting hybrid electronic ionic conductivity in a hydrated environment. The chemical
Mutually-complementary structure design towards highly stretchable elastomers with robust strength and autonomous self-healing property
Wu, Bo; Liu, Zhimeng; Lei, Yuan; Wang, Yi; Liu, Qinfeng; Yuan, Anqian; Zhao, Yuanyang; Zhang, Xi; Lei, Jingxin
Achieving good transparency, high strength and superior extensibility simultaneously in autonomic self-healing elastomers remains challenging and fascinating. Herein, a complementary design strategy of combining densely distributed multiple hydrogen bonds (H bonds) and loosely packed spacer units in supramolecular elastomer was reported to address the inherent contradiction of robust strength and
Self-assembly of a silicon-containing side-chain liquid crystalline block copolymer in bulk and in thin films: kinetic pathway of a cylinder to sphere transition
Liao, Fen; Shi, Ling-Ying; Cheng, Li-Chen; Lee, Sangho; Ran, Rong; Yager, Kevin G.; Ross, Caroline A.
The self-assembly of a high-? silicon-containing side-chain liquid crystalline block copolymer (LC BCP) in bulk and in thin films is reported, and the structural transition process from the hexagonally packed cylinder (HEX) to the body-centered cubic structure (BCC) in thin films was examined by both reciprocal and real space experimental…