Piñón-Balderrama, Claudia; Leyva-Porras, César; Olayo-Valles, Roberto; Revilla-Vázquez, Javier; Schubert, Ulrich S.; Guerrero-Sanchez, Carlos; Bonilla-Cruz, José
Self-Assembly Investigations of Sulfonated Poly(methyl methacrylate- block -styrene) Diblock Copolymer Thin Films
Poly(methyl methacrylate- block -styrene) block copolymers (BCs) of low dispersity were selectively sulfonated on the styrenic segment. Several combinations of degree of polymerization and volume fraction of each block were investigated to access different self-assembled morphologies. Thin films of the sulfonated block copolymers were prepared by spin-coating and…
Electrospun PCL-protein scaffolds coated by pyrrole plasma polymerization
Cruz, Yeyzon; Muñoz, Efrén; Gomez-Pachón, E. Y.; Morales-Corona, Juan; Olayo-Lortia, Jesús; Olayo, Roberto; Olayo-Valles, Roberto
Polymeric scaffolds prepared from polycaprolactone (PCL), PCL-collagen and PCL-elastin were prepared by electrospinning. The scaffolds were coated by plasma polymerization of pyrrole doped with iodine, to improve cellular adhesion and fibroblast proliferation. The morphology, composition, and crystalline structure of the scaffolds were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM),…
Multiscale Self-Assembly of a Phenyl-Flanked Diketopyrrolopyrrole Derivative: A Solution-Processable Building Block for π-Conjugated Supramolecular Polymers
Wang, Kai; Bohra, Hassan; Gonçalves, Rui A.; Bhatnagar, Harshangda; Wu, Yingjie; Wang, Xiaochen; Wang, Zheng; Wei, Xin; Lam, Yeng Ming; Wang, Mingfeng
We report a solution-processable π-conjugated molecular building block (denoted as PhDPP) consisting of a rigid and planar core of phenyl-flanked diketopyrrolopyrrole and “soft” branched alkoxy chains that endow the solubility in a variety of organic solvents. Intermolecular hydrogen bonding in PhDPP was revealed in nonpolar solvents above a threshold of…
Hard–Soft Carbon Composite Anodes with Synergistic Sodium Storage Performance
Xie, Fei; Xu, Zhen; Jensen, Anders C. S.; Au, Heather; Lu, Yaxiang; Araullo‐Peters, Vicente; Drew, Alan J.; Hu, Yong-Sheng; Titirici, Maria-Magdalena
A series of hard–soft carbon composite materials is produced from biomass and oil waste and applied as low-cost anodes for sodium-ion batteries to study the fundamentals behind the dependence of Na storage on their structural features. A good reversible capacity of 282 mAh g−1 is obtained at a current density…
A high-performance BaTiO 3 -grafted-GO-laden poly(ethylene oxide)-based membrane as an electrolyte for all-solid lithium-batteries
Angulakshmi, N.; Prasanna Kar, Goutam; Bose, Suryasarathi; Bhoje Gowd, E.; Thomas, Sabu; Manuel Stephan, A.
Nanocomposite polymer electrolytes (NCPEs) comprising poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), barium titanate-grafted-graphene oxide (BaTiO3-g-GO) and lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl imide) (LiTFSI) were prepared by a simple hot-press technique. An increase of two orders of magnitude in the ionic conductivity was achieved upon incorporation of BaTiO3-g-GO in the polymeric matrix even at 0 °C. The
Tuning the properties of electrospun polylactide mats by ethanol treatment
Pavlova, Elizaveta R.; Bagrov, Dmitry V.; Monakhova, Kristina Z.; Piryazev, Alexey A.; Sokolova, Anastasia I.; Ivanov, Dimitri A.; Klinov, Dmitry V.
In the present work, we analyzed the changes in structure and mechanical properties of electrospun PLA mats induced by ethanol treatment. The amorphous PLA mats gained elasticity when immersed into ethanol (the elongation at break increased from ?~50% in air to ?~280% in ethanol) and partly retained it after drying…
Simultaneous SAXS-WAXS Experiments on Semi-Crystalline Polymers: Example of PA11 and Its Brill Transition
Tencé-Girault, Sylvie; Lebreton, Sylvie; Bunau, Oana; Dang, Patrick; Bargain, François
This manuscript of the special issue “Microstructural Evolution and Mechanical Behavior of Semi-Crystalline Polymers” aims to show that Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) and Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (WAXS) experiments performed simultaneously constitute a unique tool to obtain valuable information on the hierarchical structure of semi-crystalline polymers. These structural quantitative…
Formation and evolution of shish-kebab structure during hot stretching in gel-spun ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibers with high concentration gel solution
An, Minfang; Lv, You; Xu, Haojun; Li, Yiguo; Wang, Zongbao
Formation and evolution of shish‐kebab crystals of gel‐spun ultra‐high molecular weight polyethylene fibers from high concentration gel solution during hot‐stretching process were studied by in situ small‐angle X‐ray scattering and wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction measurements, differential scanning calorimetry, and scanning electron microscopy. We show that the structural evolution process can be…
Cavitation-enabled rapid and tunable evolution of high-χN micelles as templates for ordered mesoporous oxides
Lokupitiya, Hasala N.; Stefik, Morgan
The kinetic-entrapment of block copolymer micelles enables size-persistence, however tuning micelle sizes under such conditions remains challenging. Agitation-induced chain exchange via vortexing is limited by the production of solution–air interfaces. Here, we use ultrasonic cavitation for rapid interface production that accelerates micelle growth by an order of magnitude over…
The role of fast and slow processes in the formation of structure and properties of thermoplastic polyurethanes
Anokhin, D. V.; Gorbunova, M. A.; Estrin, Ya I.; Komratova, V. V.; Badamshina, E. R.
New multi-blocked thermoplastic polymers containing rigid polyurethane-urea and soft polydiethylene glycol adipate blocks have been synthesized. Basic features of their structure formation have been revealed. Three types of supramolecular organization have been found, which define the behavior of samples under heating and deformation conditions. The shape memory effect has been…