Wen-Kang Wei, Jing-Jing Zhao, Chen-Guang Liu, Dong Wang, Ai-Hua He
{"title":"The Effect of In situ Melt Pre-shear Induced Oriented Precursors on the Crystallization of Poly(1-butene)/Polypropylene Blends","authors":"Wen-Kang Wei, Jing-Jing Zhao, Chen-Guang Liu, Dong Wang, Ai-Hua He","doi":"10.1007/s10118-024-3240-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10118-024-3240-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Melt pre-shear induced crystallization of polymer blends holds great significance in industrial processing and product application. In this work, two typical PB/PP blends (50/50, 90/10), possessing commercial value and academic hotspot, were employed to investigate the effect of melt pre-shear on the crystallization of isotactic poly(1-butene) (PB) and polypropylene (PP) by applying shearing slightly above the melting temperature of PP with subsequent non-isothermal crystallization to simulate actual processing conditions. It was discovered that in PB/PP (90/10) blend, <i>in situ</i> melt pre-shear generated oriented PP precursors induced the formation of PP-FIC (Flow-induced crystallization) which acted as row crystal nucleus significantly promoting PB crystallization into spherulite with higher melting temperatures (<i>T</i><sub>m</sub>), crystallinity (<i>X</i><sub>c</sub>), and thicker lamellar thickness (<i>d</i><sub>c</sub>). While in PB/PP (50/50) blend, the melt pre-shear generated PP-shish precursors induced the formation of PP shish-kebab that exerted a confining effect on the crystal growth of PB, resulting in truncated spherulite formation with higher <i>T</i><sub>m</sub> and thicker <i>d</i><sub>c</sub> but lower <i>X</i><sub>c</sub>. This research provides insight into the mechanism underlying oriented crystal structure formation, crystal properties, and phase morphology of PB/PP blends under melt pre-shear fields, which have significant theoretical and practical implications for their industrial processing and preparation of high-performance products.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":517,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Polymer Science","volume":"42 12","pages":"2011 - 2020"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142778596","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ivan Zlobin, Nikita Toroptsev, Gleb Averochkin, Alexander Pavlov
{"title":"Pre-trained Mol2Vec Embeddings as a Tool for Predicting Polymer Properties","authors":"Ivan Zlobin, Nikita Toroptsev, Gleb Averochkin, Alexander Pavlov","doi":"10.1007/s10118-024-3237-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10118-024-3237-y","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Machine learning-assisted prediction of polymer properties prior to synthesis has the potential to significantly accelerate the discovery and development of new polymer materials. To date, several approaches have been implemented to represent the chemical structure in machine learning models, among which Mol2Vec embeddings have attracted considerable attention in the cheminformatics community since their introduction in 2018. However, for small datasets, the use of chemical structure representations typically increases the dimensionality of the input dataset, resulting in a decrease in model performance. Furthermore, the limited diversity of polymer chemical structures hinders the training of reliable embeddings, necessitating complex task-specific architecture implementations. To address these challenges, we examined the efficacy of Mol2Vec pre-trained embeddings in deriving vectorized representations of polymers. This study assesses the impact of incorporating Mol2Vec compound vectors into the input features on the efficacy of a model reliant on the physical properties of 214 polymers. The results will hopefully highlight the potential for improving prediction accuracy in polymer studies by incorporating pre-trained embeddings or promote their utilization when dealing with modestly sized polymer databases.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":517,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Polymer Science","volume":"42 12","pages":"2059 - 2068"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142778595","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Crosslinked Colorless Polyimide Films via Oxazole Groups as Crosslinking Agent: Preparation and Properties","authors":"He Wang, Zhen-Chao Liu, Xue Shang, Li-Dong Feng, Xin-Chao Bian, Xue-Si Chen","doi":"10.1007/s10118-024-3235-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10118-024-3235-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>A series of transparent crosslinked colorless polyimide (CPI) films are prepared from 3,3′,4,4′-biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride (BPDA), 2,2′-bis(trifluoro-methyl)benzidine (TFMB), and 4,4′-oxydianiline (ODA) by thermal imidization, incorporating varying contents of 2,2′-(1,3-phenylene)bis(2-oxazoline) (1,3-PBO) as the crosslinking agent. Following the incorporation of the crosslinking structure, the CPI films show good optical transparency (approximately 85% winthin visible light range), enhanced glass transition temperature (from 325 °C to 341 °C), and improved thermal stability, and tensile strength. Notably, compared with the pristine uncrosslinked CPI, these crosslinked CPI films significantly increase in elongation at break (from 5.4% to 44.2%). Furthermore, the new approach ensures that crosslinked CPIs improve heat resistance and mechanical properties, while avoiding the embrittlement of materials. This study also offeres straightforward preparation methods for optically transparent crosslinked polyimides without additional processing steps. All these results make this approach can effectively improve the competitive performance of the CPI films for potential applications in microelectronic and optoelectronic fields.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":517,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Polymer Science","volume":"42 12","pages":"1905 - 1914"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142778497","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yuan-Shuo Zhang, Zhi-Ya Qi, Ming-Ming Ding, Ming-Lun Li, Tong-Fei Shi
{"title":"Translocation of ssDNA through Charged Graphene Nanopores: Effect of the Charge Density","authors":"Yuan-Shuo Zhang, Zhi-Ya Qi, Ming-Ming Ding, Ming-Lun Li, Tong-Fei Shi","doi":"10.1007/s10118-024-3215-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10118-024-3215-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Nanopore sequencing harnesses changes in ionic current as nucleotides traverse a nanopore, enabling real-time decoding of DNA/RNA sequences. The instruments for the dynamic behavior of substances in the nanopore on the molecular scale are still very limited experimentally. This study employs all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to explore the impact of charge densities on graphene nanopore in the translocation of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA). We find that the magnitude of graphene’s charge, rather than the charge disparity between ssDNA and graphene, significantly influences ssDNA adsorption and translocation speed. Specifically, high negative charge densities on graphene nanopores are shown to substantially slow down ssDNA translocation, highlighting the importance of hydrodynamic effects and electrostatic repulsions. This indicates translocation is crucial for achieving distinct ionic current blockades, which plays a central role for DNA sequencing accuracy. Our findings suggest that negatively charged graphene nanopores hold considerable potential for optimizing DNA sequencing, marking a critical advancement in this field.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":517,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Polymer Science","volume":"42 12","pages":"2048 - 2058"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142778162","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jian-Wen Shan, Yan-Bo Zhu, Ling-Ling Ni, Peng-Ju Pan
{"title":"Viscoelastic Property Evolution of Thermoplastic Polyurethane during Annealing Treatment and Its Correlation with Segmental Crystallization","authors":"Jian-Wen Shan, Yan-Bo Zhu, Ling-Ling Ni, Peng-Ju Pan","doi":"10.1007/s10118-024-3219-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10118-024-3219-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Viscoelastic properties of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) is of fundamental importance for its processing. In this work, we prepared different TPUs from polycaprolactone (PCL) diol, diphenylmethane-4,4′-diisocyanate (MDI), and 1,4-butanediol (BDO), and investigated the viscoelastic behavior of three TPUs with different hard segment content during thermal annealing process. The storage modulus (<i>G</i>′) of TPU increases over time in a medium annealing temperature (<i>T</i><sub>a</sub>) region, but remains unchanged at both high and low temperature regions. The growth of loss modulus (<i>G</i>″) over time is slower than that of <i>G</i>′. At medium <i>T</i><sub>a</sub>, both <i>G</i>′ and <i>G</i>″ increase during the repeating frequency (<i>ω</i>) sweep, due to the gradual crystallization of hard segments. This indicates that the crystallites primarily restrain the relaxation of unit with large size. The increments of <i>G</i>′ and <i>G</i>″ are weakened when the content of hard segment in TPU is decreased. For TPU with high content of hard segments, a complete high elastic platform with a width of 3 orders of magnitude was observed only through one frequency scan test at medium <i>T</i><sub>a</sub>. In addition, the crystallites of hard segments grow up continuously during frequency scan test (isothermal annealing treatment) and cause the extreme increase in <i>G</i>′ and <i>G</i>″ with <i>ω</i> in low <i>ω</i> region.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":517,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Polymer Science","volume":"42 12","pages":"1976 - 1985"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142778161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jian-Long Wen, Yong-Qiang Ming, Ao-Fei Zhang, Jiang-Long Li, Xiao-Yu Du, Lang Shuai, Yi-Jing Nie
{"title":"Interplay between Hydrogen Bond Network and Entangled Network in Polymers During Stretching Based on Molecular Simulations","authors":"Jian-Long Wen, Yong-Qiang Ming, Ao-Fei Zhang, Jiang-Long Li, Xiao-Yu Du, Lang Shuai, Yi-Jing Nie","doi":"10.1007/s10118-024-3227-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10118-024-3227-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Mechanical properties of polymers can be regulated by changing the numbers of hydrogen bonds and entanglement points. However, the interplay between hydrogen bond network and entangled network during stretching has not been fully studied. We performed molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the changes of hydrogen bonds and entanglements during stretching. The stretching causes the orientation of local segments, leading to the entanglement sliding and disentanglements at different strain regions. Then, the number of entanglement points keeps constant at first and then decreases with increasing strain. Differently, the orientation of local segments can cause the change of chain conformation, which leads to the breakage of hydrogen bonds. Thus, the number of hydrogen bonds decreases with the increase of strain. Simulation results also demonstrated that the number of hydrogen bonds decreases faster during stretching in systems containing more entanglements. In systems with different hydrogen bond site contents, the initial number of entanglement nodes and its decline range during stretching increase firstly and then decrease with the increase of hydrogen bond site content.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":517,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Polymer Science","volume":"42 12","pages":"2069 - 2080"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142778237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nan Tian, Yi-Qing Li, Hong-Yi Gan, Zhen-Bo Ning, Ni Jiang, Zhi-Hua Gan
{"title":"Synergistic Effect of Multi-Arm Architecture and Molecular Weight on Crystallization and Degradation Behavior of Star-Shaped Poly(Lactic Acid)","authors":"Nan Tian, Yi-Qing Li, Hong-Yi Gan, Zhen-Bo Ning, Ni Jiang, Zhi-Hua Gan","doi":"10.1007/s10118-024-3229-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10118-024-3229-y","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Star-shaped poly(lactic acid)s (PLAs) with two to five arms were synthesized by ring opening polymerization using tin(II) 2-ethylhexanoate as catalyst and polyols as initiators. The effects of molecular weight together with multi-arm architecture on crystallization behavior, spherulite morphology and alkaline degradation behavior of star-shaped PLAs have been investigated. The results indicate that the multi-arm architecture interfered with spherulite growth, but promoted nucleation and alkaline degradation of star-shaped PLAs. Interestingly, with the increase of molecular weight (<i>M</i><sub>n</sub>), the crystallization rate first increased and then decreased, while the alkaline degradation rate was the opposite. The characteristic crystallization and alkaline degradation behavior of star-shaped PLAs were discussed based on the competition between segmental mobility and central core confinement.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":517,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Polymer Science","volume":"42 12","pages":"1948 - 1956"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142778160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Vinylic-addition Polynorbornene-based Anion-Exchange Membranes with Semi-Interpenetrating Polymer Networks for Water Electrolysis","authors":"Ting Wang, Yu Wang, Wei You","doi":"10.1007/s10118-024-3225-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10118-024-3225-2","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Anion-exchange membranes (AEMs) with high conductivity and stability are essential components of hydrogen related water electrolysis and fuel cell applications. During the past decades, polynorbornene (PNB)-based AEMs have shown excellent performance due to their saturated all-carbon-based backbones and diverse strategies to prepare cross-linked membranes. However, nearly all previously reported PNB-based AEMs rely on the alkyl-substituted norbornene monomers, whose low-yielding synthesis leads to high-cost of the AEMs. In addition, the cross-linked PNB-based AEMs usually suffered from mechanical brittleness. Herein, we propose a novel semi-interpenetrating polymer network (s-IPN) strategy to simultaneously enhance mechanical modulus and ionic conductivity, while using commercial 5-vinyl-2-norbornene (VNB) as the single norbornene derivatives to prepare high-performance AEMs. A diallylphenol quaternary ammonium salt was used for photo-induced cross-linking with poly-VNB and various dithiols to produce AEMs with s-IPN structures. The resultant membranes have excellent hydroxide conductivities and alkaline stability in 1 mol/L KOH at 80 °C, and are successfully applied in alkaline anion-exchange membrane water electrolyzers to stably operate for over 150 h.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":517,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Polymer Science","volume":"42 12","pages":"1888 - 1896"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142778210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Donglai Tian, Jie Wang, Xiaohua Huang, Yun Ding, Aiguo Hu
{"title":"Understanding Broad Polydispersity in Step-growth Polymerization via Catalyst Competition Mechanism","authors":"Donglai Tian, Jie Wang, Xiaohua Huang, Yun Ding, Aiguo Hu","doi":"10.1007/s10118-024-3217-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10118-024-3217-2","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Conjugated polymers are mainly synthesized by cross-coupling polymerizations catalyzed with transition metal (Pd, Ni) catalysts through step-growth polymerization (SGP) mechanism. According to the classical theory of SGP, the polymer dispersion index (<i>Ð</i>) of the synthesized polymers will never be higher than 2. However, the cases where conjugated polymers synthesized with <i>Ð</i> value far exceeding 2 are very common in reality, which severely limits their processing property, performance and applications. To investigate the reason behind the <i>Ð</i> value deviation from the theoretical value of SGP, direct arylation polycondensation (DArP) of 2-bromo-3-hexylthiophene (3HT) was chosen as the model reaction, and the reaction process was tracked using gel permeation chromatography analysis. When Pd(OAc)<sub>2</sub> was used as the catalyst, the <i>Ð</i> value linearly increased with the increase of the weight-average molecular weight (<i>M</i><sub><i>w</i></sub>) of polymer (P3HT) after a short period and reached up to 7.2 at prolonged reaction time. Scanning transmission electron microscopic images of the reaction mixture showed the fibril-like aggregation of P3HT and assembling of Pd species in P3HT aggregates. A catalyst competition mechanism was thus proposed, together with numerical calculation, giving a good fitting to the experimental results, which is believed to have far-reaching significance for guiding the design, synthesis and processing of conjugated polymers.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":517,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Polymer Science","volume":"42 12","pages":"1897 - 1904"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142778209","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ya-Jie Wang, Ping Zhang, Michael J. Serpe, Hong Chen, Liang Hu
{"title":"Interferometers Utilizing Reversible X-ray-induced Chemical Changes in Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) Microgels","authors":"Ya-Jie Wang, Ping Zhang, Michael J. Serpe, Hong Chen, Liang Hu","doi":"10.1007/s10118-024-3223-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10118-024-3223-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Photonic materials, which react to light, have garnered interest due to their capability to exhibit adjustable structural colors. Typically, light targets the UV, visible, or near-IR spectrums. In this study, microgel-based photonic materials that are capable of reversibly responding to X-rays have been engineered. To accomplish this, azobenzene (Azo)-containing poly(<i>N</i>-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAm)-based microgels are synthesized. Subsequently, ZnS scintillator and Cr/Au are applied on each side of the poly(methyl methacrylate (PMMA) substrate. Subsequently, the Azo MG monolayer is deposited onto the Au surface, followed by the deposition of an additional layer of Cr/Au. This process generates ZnS/PMMA/Cr/Au/Azo MG/Cr/Au or ZnS/Au-Azo MG-Au structure. Functioning as a typical interferometer, ZnS/Au-Azo MG-Au demonstrates tunable colors based on the separation distance between the two Au layers. The ZnS scintillator can absorb and convert X-rays into UV light, initiating the transition of the Azo groups from a <i>trans</i> to a <i>cis</i> state. Consequently, this transition causes the Azo MG to swell. As Azo MG swells, the distance between the two Au layers increases, resulting in a red-shift of approximately 350 nm in the optical signal of the ZnS/Au-Azo MG-Au interferometer. Remarkably, this X-ray responsivity of the interferometer is reversible, as it returns to its initial state after being stored in the dark for 24 h. To demonstrate its capabilities, the ZnS/Au-Azo MG-Au interferometer successfully releases a drug when triggered by X-ray stimulation, thus validating its potential. The microgel-based interferometers hold significant promise for applications in chemoradiotherapy, radiobiology, and actuators in space.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":517,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Polymer Science","volume":"42 12","pages":"1915 - 1924"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142778172","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}