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The addition of nanofillers to rubber matrices is a powerful route to improve the mechanical properties. Here, we focus on a molecular understanding of basic mechanisms that are important for the r...

We have performed small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements to study the evolution of length-scale-dependent nanoparticle (NP) correlations over a wide range of loadings in miscible silica–p...

Fouling is the undesirable accumulation of a material on a wide variety of objects and has now become a widespread global problem from land to ocean with both economic and environmental penalties. ...

We here report that adsorbed chains composed of one of the constituent blocks can be used as a new surface modification approach to induce perpendicularly oriented lamellar microdomains in block copolymer thin films. A nearly symmetric polystyrene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS-block-PMMA) diblock copolymer was used as a model. Densely packed PS- or PMMA-adsorbed chains of about 2–3 nm in thickness (“polymer nanocoatings”) were deposited on silicon (Si) substrates using a solvent-rinsing approach. Spin-cast films of 40 or 60 nm-thick PS-block-PMMA (equivalent to two or three interdomain spacings) were subsequently deposited onto the PS or PMMA nanocoatings. Grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering experiments revealed the formation of perpendicularly oriented lamellar microdomains within the entire films at 200 °C, where balanced interfacial interactions at the polymer–air interface were achieved. Additionally, X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy studies demonstrated the dynamics of the fully...

We report the in situ structures and dynamics of hydrogenated polybutadiene (PB) chains bound to carbon black nanoparticle surfaces in polymer solutions composed of deuterated PB and deuterated toluene using small-angle neutron scattering and neutron spin-echo techniques together with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The experimental results showed that the swollen bound polymer chains exhibit the collective dynamics (the so-called breathing mode) at polymer concentrations (c) below and above the overlap polymer concentration (c*) (i.e., 0.61 < c/c* < 1.83), where the concentration profiles of the bound polymer remained unchanged with the different c values. Interestingly, the collective dynamics slowed down by a factor of 2 compared to that in pure d-toluene when the chain lengths of the bound polymer and matrix polymer were equal. However, when the free polymer chains were longer than the bound polymer chains, the decrease in collective dynamics was not as significant. MD simulations were performed ...

Self-assembly of block copolymers (BCPs) into arrays of well-defined nanoscopic structures has attracted extensive academic and industrial interests over the past several decades. In contrast to the bulk where phase behavior is controlled by the segmental interaction parameter, the total number of segments in BCPs and volume fraction, the morphologies and orientations of BCP thin films can also be strongly influenced by the substrate surface energy/chemistry effect (considered as a “substrate field”). Here, we report the formation of locally favored structures where all constituent blocks coexist side-by-side on nonneutral solid surfaces irrespective of their chain architectures, microdomain structures, and interfacial energetics. The experimental results using a suite of surface-sensitive techniques intriguingly demonstrate that individual preferred blocks and nonpreferred blocks lie flat on the substrate surface and form a two-dimensional percolating network structure as a whole. The large numbers of so...

It is known that when nanoparticles are added to polymer thin films, they often migrate to the film–substrate interface and form an “immobile interfacial layer”, which is believed to be the mechanism behind dewetting suppression. We here report a new mechanism of dewetting suppression from the structural aspect of polymer chains accommodated at the film–substrate interface. Dodecanethiol-functionalized gold (Au) nanoparticles embedded in relatively low molecular weight PS thin films prepared on silicon (Si) substrates were used as a model. We mimicked the previously reported conditions, where the nanoparticles preferentially migrate to the substrate, and successfully stabilized the PS thin films via thermal annealing. A suite of surface-sensitive techniques including atomic force microscopy, grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering, X-ray/neutron reflectivity, and sum frequency generation spectroscopy in conjunction with the established solvent leaching process enabled us to unveil the polymer chain...

A series of polystyrene-block-poly(4-(phenylethynyl)styrene) (PS-b-PPES) diblock copolymers with a range of compositions were prepared by reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. Block copolymer/cobalt carbonyl adducts (PSx-PPESy[Co2(CO)6]n) were subsequently prepared by reaction of Co2(CO)8 with the alkyne groups of the PPES block. Phase behavior of the block copolymer/cobalt carbonyl adducts (PSx-PPESy[Co2(CO)6]n, 8% ≤ wt % PS ≤ 68%) was studied by small-angle X-ray scattering and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). As the composition of PSx-PPESy[Co2(CO)6]n copolymers was shifted from PS as the majority block to PPESy[Co2(CO)6]n as the majority block, the morphology was observed to shift from lamellar with larger PS domains to cylindrical with PS as the minority component and then to spherical with PS as the minority component. These observations have been used to map out a partial phase diagram for PSx-PPESy[Co2(CO)6]n diblock copolymers. Heating of PSx-PPESy[Co2(CO)...

We report a mobility gradient of polymer chains in close proximity of a planar solid substrate in compressed carbon dioxide (CO2) gas. A series of bilayers composed of bottom hydrogenated polystyrene (h-PS) and top deuterated PS (d-PS) layers were prepared on Si substrates. A high-pressure neutron reflectivity (NR) technique was used to study the diffusive motion at the h-PS/d-PS interface as a function of the distance from the substrate interface. The results reveal that the interdiffusive chain dynamics gets strongly hindered compared to the bulk when the distance from the substrate is less than 3R(g) (R-g is the radius of polymer gyration of the h-PS). At the same time, by utilizing rapid quench of CO2 and subsequent solvent leaching, we reveal the presence of the CO2-induced polymer adsorbed layer on the substrate. We postulate that loop components in the adsorbed polymer chains provide a structure that can trap the neighboring polymer chains effectively, hence reducing the chain mobility in the close vicinity of the solid substrate even in the presence of the effective plasticizer.

Recently, nanoconfined poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and its random copolymers have attracted substantial attention in research. In addition to the drastic change in crystallization kinetics, major interest lies in crystal orientation and polymorphism in order to understand whether enhanced piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties can be achieved. For example, PVDF has been two-dimensionally (2D) confined in cylindrical nanopores of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) with various pore diameters. The crystal c-axis becomes perpendicular to the cylinder axes, which favors dipole switching in the impregnated AAO membrane. However, no polar phases have been obtained from 2D confinement even down to 35 nm pores after melt recrystallization. In this work, we realized three-dimensionally (3D) confined crystallization of PVDF in 180 nm nanospheres by employing a facile emulsifier-free batch seeded emulsion polymerization to prepare PVDF@polystyrene (PS) core–shell particles. Influences of polymerization temperature...

Thermal annealing is one of the most indispensable polymer fabrication processes and plays essential roles in controlling morphologies and properties of polymeric materials. We here report that thermal annealing also facilitates polymer adsorption from the melt on planar silicon (Si) substrates, resulting in the formation of a high-density polymer nanolayer with flattened chain confirmations. Three different homopolymers (polystyrene, poly(2-vinylpyridine), and poly(methyl methacrylate)), which have similar inherent stiffness and bulk glass transition temperature (Tg), but have different affinities with Si substrates, were chosen as models. Spin-cast films (∼50 nm in thickness) with the three polymers were prepared on cleaned Si substrates and then placed in a vacuum oven set at a temperature far above the bulk Tg. In order to monitor the polymer adsorption process at the solid-polymer melt interface during thermal annealing, we used the protocol that combines vitrification of the annealed films (via rapi...

We report the structural heterogeneity of recrystallized linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) films (25, 50, and 100 rim in thickness) in the direction normal to the surface, based on in situ grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) and X-ray diffraction (GID) measurements. The GID results have clarified the presence of the edge-on lamellae at the surfaces and in the interior of the LLDPE films prepared on Si substrates as thin as 25 nm in thickness. However, the degree of the crystallinity for the 25 nm thick film was almost half of those for the SO and 100 nm thick films, while the melting temperature (T-m) for all the films remained unchanged relative to the bulk (T-m = 117 degrees C). Moreover, the GISAXS results for the 25 nm thick film indicate the structural heterogeneity in the direction normal to the surface: (i) At the polymer/air interface, the presence of the disordered edge-on lamellae which lack well-defined long periods even at T << T-m; (ii) At the polymer/substrate interface, the persistence of a substrate-bound edge-on lamellar layer even at T >> T-m; (iii) In between the two interfacial layers, the existence of the well-ordered edge-on lamellae with the long periods. These heterogeneous structures can be explained as a consequence of the nucleation initiated at the topmost surface of the substrate-bound lamellar layer.

The effect of solvent quality on shear-induced structures in semidilute polystyrene solutions are investigated by using light-scattering and rheological methods. We found that the shear-induced structures are universally formed in various solvents employed in this experiment. We especially focus on a critical shear rate γcx, at which the light scattering intensity starts to increase in our experimental geometry, and on a critical shear stress, σxy,cx, at γ = γcx. We found that γcx is not well correlated with χ but rather that σxy,cx is better correlated with χ, where χ is the Flory−Huggins interaction parameter between polystyrene and solvents. σxy,cx increases with decreasing χ. This indicates that the structure formation is strongly affected by solvent quality, mainly through the thermodynamic state of the solution. We also analyzed the solvent quality dependence of γcx in the context of Onuki's linear theory, and found that γcx can be scaled by Kos/η0, where Kos is the osmotic modulus and η0 the ...