No abstract

Scanning electron micrographs of a solvent-extracted sheared polyethylene (PE) blend revealed, for the first time, an unexpected shish-kebab structure with multiple shish. The blend contained 2 wt % of crystallizing ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) and 98 wt % of noncrystallizing PE matrix. The formation of multiple shish was attributed to the coil-stretch transition occurring in sections of UHMWPE chains. Synchrotron x-ray data provided clear evidence of the hypothesis that multiple shish originate from stretched chain sections and kebabs originate from coiled chain sections, following a diffusion-controlled crystallization process.

Here, we report a new Ti(IV)-based porous metal-organic framework (MOF) (NTU-9), which displayed strong absorption in the visible region with a bandgap of 1.72 eV. The electronic structure and bandgap were further investigated by DFT calculations. Photoelectrochemical studies indicated that NTU-9 is photoactive under visible light illumination (λ > 400 nm) and acts as a p-type semiconductor. The results demonstrated that Ti(IV)-based MOFs could be promising visible-light photocatalysts for energy conversion and environmental remediation.

In-situ rheo-SAXS (small-angle X-ray scattering) and rheo-WAXD (wide-angle X-ray diffraction) studies were carried out to investigate the nature of shear-induced precursor structures in isotactic polypropylene (iPP) melt at 165 °C, near its nominal melting point. Immediately upon the cessation of shear, SAXS patterns clearly showed an evolution of oriented structures in hundreds of angstroms, while the corresponding WAXD patterns did not exhibit any crystal reflections. SAXS patterns at later times showed that the shish-kebab morphology was developed, and the kebabs possessed only a small amount of crystallinity (3%). The combined SAXS and WAXD results indicate that, at the early stages of crystallization, a scaffold (network) of oriented structures is formed. These structures contain (1) primary nuclei (through homogeneous nucleation) that may be crystalline or mesomorphic but having linear connectivity along the flow direction, which form the shish entity, and (2) shish-induced layered crystalline lamellae (kebabs) oriented perpendicularly to the flow direction that have poor lateral connectivity. Subsequent polymer crystallization takes place in the framework of the scaffold, which is probably dominated by the lower molecular weight species. Amounts of the crystalline primary nuclei and the layered crystalline lamellae in the precursor structures were estimated. The results verified, quantitatively for the first time, the well-known concept that minor amounts of linear nuclei induce multiple secondary nucleation sites for the growth of a large quantity of lamellae that grow radially outward from the central core. A mechanistic pathway for the early stages of crystallization in polymer melts under flow is proposed.

Development of shear-induced crystallization precursor structure was studied by in-situ rheo-SAXS (small-angle X-ray scattering) and rheo-WAXD (wide-angle X-ray diffraction) techniques using binary polymer blends of high and low molecular weight polyethylenes near their nominal melting temperatures (120 °C). Two low molecular weight polyethylene copolymers, containing 2 mol % hexene, with weight-average molecular weights (M w) of 50 000 (MB-50K) and 100 000 (MB-100K), and polydispersity of about 2, were used as the noncrystallizing matrices. A high molecular weight polyethylene homopolymer with M w of 250 000 (MB-250K) and polydispersity of about 2 was used as the crystallizing minor component. Two series of model blends, MB-50K/MB-250K and MB-100K/MB-250K, each containing weight ratios of 100/0, 97/3, 95/5, and 90/10, were prepared by solution blending to ensure thorough mixing at the molecular level. At the chosen shear conditions (rate = 60 s-1, duration = 5 s, T = 120 °C), while no flow-induced structures were seen in pure MB-50K and MB-100K melts, the blends in both series showed distinct but different shear-induced structures. Results indicate that the high molecular weight component dominates the formation of crystallization precursor structures in the blend under shear, which can act as a template for further crystallization. A “shish-kebab” structure, detected by both SAXS and WAXD, was observed in the MB-100K/MB-250K (90/10) blend, while only a twisted lamellar structure (kebab) was seen in the rest of the blends under the same shear conditions. These findings suggest that the matrix viscosity plays an important role to influence the formation of crystallization precursor structure of the high molecular component under flow. In the MB-100K/MB-250K (90/10) blend, the length of the shish was estimated from the equatorial streak in SAXS, which showed a noticeable decrease with time, while the corresponding scattering intensity was found to increase. The evolution of the shish-kebab structure from SAXS is consistent with the appearance of the (110) peak in WAXD, which can be explained by the coil−stretch transition induced by flow.

No abstract

Studies of dilute polymer solutions in shear flow suggest that the mean fractional extension of molecules increases gradually with the Weissenberg number (Wi = shear rate × longest relaxation time) and approaches an asymptotic value of 0.4−0.5, while in elongational flow it approaches full contour length above a certain critical strain rate. In an entangled polymer melt, this behavior is more complex due to inter- and intramolecular interactions. In situ rheo-SAXS (small-angle X-ray scattering) and -WAXD (wide-angle X-ray diffraction) experiments were performed to investigate the effects of shear rate, shear duration, and Wi on the extent of molecular orientation/extension and crystal orientation in an isotactic polypropylene (iPP) melt. Two series of experiments were designed:  (1) variation of shear rate (30, 45, and 60 s-1) at a constant shear duration (5 s) and (2) variation of shear duration (1.3, 3, and 5 s) at a constant rate (60 s-1). The degree of crystal orientation (Herman's orientation function, f) observed at 165 °C and fraction of oriented crystals (X o) observed in a fully crystallized sample at room temperature increased with both shear rate and shear duration. Interestingly, at a constant strain (rate × duration), short-duration shear at a high rate was found to be more effective (i.e., higher f and X o) than long-duration shear at a low rate. The longest relaxation time for the iPP sample and Wi were estimated from the dynamic moduli data. Both f and X o were found to gradually increase with Wi and approached plateau values at high values of Wi. Results indicated that, even under a very intense shear field (or high Wi values), molecules do not extend to full contour length, and there is a limiting value for mean orientation/extension and subsequent crystal orientation in a polymer matrix. Characteristic dimensions of the shish-kebab entity formed in a sheared iPP melt at 165 °C were determined from the rheo-SAXS data. It was found that the average shish length was 700−750 nm and the average spacing between adjacent kebabs was 60−70 nm.

Ion complexation within cylinder-forming block copolymer thin films was found to affect the ordering process of the copolymer films during solvent annealing, significantly enhancing the long-range positional order. Small amounts of alkali halide or metal salts were added to PS-b-PEO, on the order of a few ions per chain, where the salt complexed with the PEO block. The orientation of the cylindrical microdomains strongly depended on the salt concentration and the ability of the ions to complex with PEO. The process shows large flexibility in the choice of salt used, including gold or cobalt salts, whereby well-organized patterns of nanoparticles can be generated inside the copolymer microdomains. By further increasing the amount of added salts, the copolymer remained highly ordered at large degrees of swelling and demonstrated long-range positional correlations of the microdomains in the swollen state, which holds promise as a route to addressable media.