Kong, Weiqing; Li, Tian; Chen, Chaoji; Chen, Gegu; Brozena, Alexandra H.; Liu, Dapeng; Liu, Yang; Wang, Chengwei; Gan, Wentao; Wang, Sha; He, Shuaiming; Hu, Liangbing
Strong, Water-Stable Ionic Cable from Bio-Hydrogel
Nanofluids have attracted much attention due to their various applications in energy storage, water desalination, and ionic circuits. However, the practical applications of the existing ionic conductors are limited due to their poor mechanical strength and stability in water. Here, inspired by nature, we develop a mechanically robust and water-stable…
Introducing Functionality to Fluorinated Electroactive Polymers
Kallitsis, Konstantinos; Soulestin, Thibaut; Tencé-Girault, Sylvie; Brochon, Cyril; Cloutet, Eric; Domingues Dos Santos, Fabrice; Hadziioannou, Georges
Fluorinated electroactive polymers (FEPs) are among the most interesting insulating materials for the production of organic electronic devices. Their ability to tune their response to an applied electric field makes them appropriate for vastly different applications in electronics. However, due to the chemical inertness of such polymers and the rather…
Periodic Polyethylene Sulfonates from Polyesterification: Bulk and Nanoparticle Morphologies and Ionic Conductivities
Rank, Christina; Yan, Lu; Mecking, Stefan; Winey, Karen I.
A series of polyethylene-like ionomers with periodic sulfonate groups were synthesized by polyesterification of octatetracontane-1,48-diol and tetrabutylammonium dimethyl sulfosuccinate. Optional cation exchange in aqueous dispersions replaced the NBu4+ counterions for Na+ or Cs+. The defined periodic microstructure of the polymers leads to the formation of layered structures in bulk and…
Phase separation and performance of polyethersulfone/cellulose nanocrystals membranes
Lessan, Fatemeh; Karimi, Mohammad; Bañuelos, Jose Leobardo; Foudazi, Reza
We investigate the effect of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) as a hydrophilic nanoparticle on the characteristics of polyethersulfone (PES) based membranes. The membranes are fabricated using typical nonsolvent induced phase separation (NIPS) method. We study the radius of gyration and aggregation of PES in dimethylformamide in the presence of CNC, the…
Lignin@Nafion Membranes Forming Zn SolidElectrolyte Interfaces Enhance the Cycle Life for Rechargeable Zinc-Ion Batteries
Yuan, Du; Manalastas, William; Zhang, Liping; Chan, Jun Jie; Meng, Shizhe; Chen, Yingqian; Srinivasan, Madhavi
Metallic zinc is an ideal anode material for rechargeable zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs), taking us beyond the lithium-ion era. In-depth understanding of the Zn metal surface is currently required owing to diverse but uncorrelated data about the Zn surface in mild environments. Herein, the surface chemistry of Zn is elucidated and…
Preparation, Structure, and Properties of an Isotactic Polypropylene Film with Ultrahigh Content, Ordered, and Continuous ?-Transcrystallinity
Liang, Guixue; Yang, Shuo; Li, Jiang; Guo, Shaoyun
?-Transcrystallinity (?-TC) of polypropylene (PP) is a novel kind of crystal that is of significant importance. Owing to the low content, discontinuity, and random distribution of ?-TC obtained by traditional methods, there has not been significant research on this particular crystal. Thus, its formation mechanism and growth law remain unclear…
Moebius strips of chiral block copolymers
Geng, Zhen; Xiong, Bijin; Wang, Liquan; Wang, Ke; Ren, Min; Zhang, Lianbin; Zhu, Jintao; Yang, Zhenzhong
The Moebius topology (twisted, single-sided strip) is intriguing because of its structural elegance and distinct properties. Here we report the generation of block copolymer Moebius strips via a fast self-assembly of chiral block copolymer polystyrene-block-poly(D-lactide acid) (PS-b-PDLA) in tetrahydrofuran/water mixed solvents. The Moebius strip is formed by morphological evolution from…
Transition Pathway between Gyroid and Cylindrical Morphology in Linear Triblock Terpolymer Thin Films
Guliyeva, Aynur; Vayer, Marylène; Warmont, Fabienne; Takano, Atsushi; Matsushita, Yushu; Sinturel, Christophe
A new transition between alternating gyroid (GA) structure and cylindrical morphology was observed in thin films for a poly(isoprene-block-styrene-block-(2-vinylpyridine)) (ISP) triblock terpolymer (I/S/P volume fraction = 0.20:0.66:0.14) exhibiting in bulk a Q214 (space group I4132) morphology. Thin films were organized using solvent vapor annealing (SVA) and characterized by atomic force
Relation Between Charge Transport and the Number of Interconnected Lamellar Poly(3-Hexylthiophene) Crystals
Wang, Binghua; Chen, Jingbo; Shen, Changyu; Reiter, Günter; Zhang, Bin
We have investigated the lateral charge transport in a multilamellar network of crystalline structures of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) embedded in a matrix of small crystallites and amorphous polymers resulting from crystallization at temperatures close to the melting point. Removing the matrix by an appropriate washing process allowed us to observe a…
A unique Microfiltration membrane derived from the poly(ethylene-co-methyl acrylate)/Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (EMA/PVDF) biphasic blends and surface modification for antifouling application
Remanan, Sanjay; Chandra Das, Narayan
A new polymeric blend system is developed from the EMA and PVDF by melt-mixing at various blend compositions. Different techniques characterize the prepared blends, and especially, optical microscopy, XRD, and SAXS analyses study the blend crystallization. A microporous structure is prepared by selective solubilization of PVDF from the EMA/PVDF blends…