Search results for "Macro"
showing 10 items of 3471 documents
Correlations between Ion Conductivity and Polymer Dynamics in Hyperbranched Poly(ethylene oxide) Electrolytes for Lithium-Ion Batteries
2011
Poly(ethylene oxide)s with varying degrees of hyperbranching are effective at preventing the crystallization of PEO and lead to approximately a 100-fold increase in the Li-ion conductivity below 50 °C as compared with linear PEO. The Li-ion conductivities, which increase further upon permethylation of the hydroxyl termini, are found to correlate quantitatively with the fast segmental dynamics of PEO as measured by inelastic neutron scattering.
Microphase separation in linear multiblock copolymers under poor solvent conditions
2010
Molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the phase behavior of linear multiblock copolymers with two types of monomers, A and B, where the length of the polymer blocks $N_{A}$ and $N_{B}$ ($N_{A}=N_{B}=N$), the number of the blocks $n_{A}$ and $n_{B}$ ($n_{A}=n_{B}=n$), and the solvent quality varies. The fraction $f$ of A-type monomers is kept constant and equal to 0.5. Whereas at high enough temperatures these macromolecules form coil structures, where each block A or B forms rather individual clusters, at low enough temperatures A and B monomers from different blocks can join together forming clusters of A or B monomers. The dependence of the formation of these clusters on the va…
Critical adsorption of a single macromolecule in polymer brushes.
2014
The adsorption of long flexible macromolecules by polymer brush-coated surfaces is studied by molecular dynamics simulations and by calculations using density functional and self-consistent field theories. The case of repulsive interactions between the substrate surface and the monomers of both the brush polymers and the extra chains that can get absorbed into the brush is considered. Under good solvent conditions, critical absorption can occur, if the interaction between the monomers of the brush polymers and the extra chain is (weakly) attractive. It is shown that it is possible to map out the details of the critical absorption transition, if the chain length and/or the grafting density o…
Structure Formation of Polymeric Building Blocks: Complex Polymer Architectures
2013
This chapter describes macromolecules with a complex structure, their defined aggregation in solution, their adsorption to surfaces, and their possible aggregation on surfaces. The term “complex structure” implies that the macromolecules show different, distinct structural elements or building blocks on a supra-atomic length scale. Key to understanding the complex structure of macromolecules, their aggregation, and adsorption to surfaces are intra- and intermolecular interactions such as van der Waals, electrostatic, π–π interactions, and hydrogen bonds.
Laponite clay in homopolymer and tri-block copolymer matrices
2007
Macromolecule/laponite nanomaterials were studied by DSC and X-ray diffraction techniques. The matrices are poly(ethylene) glycols at various molecular masses and poly(ethylene oxides)-poly(propylene oxides)-poly(ethylene oxides) tri-block copolymers. The latter were tuned by modulating the molecular masses, at constant hydrophilic/hydrophobic ratio, and the hydrophilicity. For all the investigated systems, the enthalpy of melting (ΔH m) is nearly constant up to a given composition thereafter it increases monotonically reaching the value of the pure macromolecule. We proposed a model to interpret the DSC data. Briefly, it was invoked a mechanism of interaction following which some segments …
The Crystalline State of Macromolecular Substances
1974
Unlike low molecular weight substances, high polymers do not crystallize completely. However long the crystallization process is continued, they still consist of a mixture of crystalline and non crystalline regions. In the undrawn material, these regions form larger units which are known as spherulites. Questions that are of special interest concern the arrangement of the chains in the noncrystalline regions, the causes of chain folding, and the imperfections in the crystals. The incomplete crystallization is a consequence of kinetic inhibitions. This can be deduced from the fact that the crystalline fraction increases with rising crystallization temperature. If polymerization is carried ou…
Detection of polymer compatibility by means of self-organization: poly(ethylene oxide) and poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate)
2021
Information on the miscibility of different polymers A and B on a molecular level is important in many ways. However, along the traditional lines this knowledge is difficult and time consuming to achieve. The current study presents a simple alternative, based on the determination of the intrinsic viscosities (specific hydrodynamic volume of isolated coils) for blend solutions in a common solvent. In the case of incompatible polymers, isolated coils contain one macromolecule only, either A or B. In contrast, compatible polymers form mixed isolated coils, because of favorable interactions. The present investigation was carried out for the system water/poly(ethylene oxide)/poly(sodium 4-polyst…
Effect of an organoclay on the photochemical transformations of a PBAT/PLA blend and morpho-chemical features of crosslinked networks
2021
Abstract In this work, we report the effect of an organoclay on the photochemical weathering of nanocomposites based on a poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT)/poly(lactic acid) (PLA) blend. The evolution of physicochemical properties was monitored by integrating spectroscopic, mechanical, and morphological analyses. A robust relationship was found between the molecular transformations of the polymer macromolecules and the morpho-mechanical properties of irradiated films. Moreover, the analysis of insoluble fractions extracted from nanocomposites pointed out that free-standing, porous structures, displaying an unprecedented thickness as great as 100 µm, were formed, thus unambiguou…
Polymer brushes under flow and in other out-of-equilibrium conditions
2011
Polymer brushes are formed from flexible linear macromolecules tethered at one chain end to a solid substrate, forming a dense polymeric layer of polymer chains which are more or less stretched in the direction perpendicular to the substrate surface. These systems find interest also due to numerous applications (colloid stabilization, improvement of lubrication properties when the surfaces are exposed to shear, protection of the surface against adsorption of nanoparticles or proteins, etc.), for which often the dynamic non-equilibrium response of these brushes to external perturbation is important. The present review summarizes recent computer simulation studies pertinent to these questions…
Simulations of Polymers in Confined Geometries
1991
The properties of flexible polymers moving inside porous structures are believed to be relevant to practical problems such as filtration, gel permeation chromatography, heterogeneous catalysis, oil recuperation, etc.1. Similarly the adsorption of macromolecules on interfaces plays an important role for problems such as adhesion, flocculation and stabilisation of colloid particles, biological membrane function, artificial organs in medicine, etc. 2. Aside from this eventual practical application, the configurational statistics of polymers in such confined geometries is a challenging problem of theoretical physics. The present brief review will be concerned with the study of a single long fle…