Category

Characteristic dimension

(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialPolymer researchTechniqueWAXS

Pendant side-chain sterics against electrostatic forces: Influencing short-range ordering in random polyelectrolytes

Nwosu, Chinomso; Coughlin, E. Bryan

The length of pendant side chains in charged, random, comb-shaped polymers dictates the nature of their short-range ordering. Random copolymers, and terpolymer, of 4-vinylpyridine (4VP), styrene, and isoprene were synthesized and subsequently fully quaternized with 1-alkylbromides having varying number of carbons on the alkyl group ranging from 2 to 8.…
27 January 2020
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialOtherPolymer researchSAXSSelf-assembled materialTechniqueTemperature

Two-Step Chemical Transformation of Polystyrene-block-poly(solketal acrylate) Copolymers for Increasing ?

Yu, Duk Man; Smith, Darren M.; Kim, Hyeyoung; Rzayev, Javid; Russell, Thomas P.

We investigated the two-step chemical transformation of a series of symmetric poly(styrene-b-solketal acrylate) (PS-b-PSA) copolymers with varying molecular weights from 1900 to 27?300 g/mol (13 ? N ? 194) synthesized by sequential atom transfer radical polymerization. Through acid-catalyzed hydrolysis, the PSA block is converted into poly(glycerol acrylate) (PGA), which subsequently…
27 January 2020
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialPolymer researchSAXSTechniqueTemperature

Tuning Mechanical Properties of Biobased Polymers by Supramolecular Chain Entanglement

Lamm, Meghan E.; Song, Lingzhi; Wang, Zhongkai; Rahman, Md Anisur; Lamm, Benjamin; Fu, Lin; Tang, Chuanbing

A variety of biobased polymers have been derived from diverse natural resources. However, the mechanical properties of some of these polymers are inferior due to low chain entanglement. We report a facile strategy termed “supramolecular chain entanglement”, which utilizes supramolecular interactions to create physical cross-linking and entanglements for polymers with…
27 January 2020
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialPolymer researchSAXSTechnique

Fast Photochromic Dye Response in Rigid Block Polymer Thermosets

Peterson, Colin; Hillmyer, Marc A.

The behavior of photochromic spiropyran (SP) dyes is greatly affected by the local environment in which they reside. Fluid microenvironments such as liquidlike polymers grant favorably fast dye decoloration whereas rigid microenvironments such as glassy polymers inhibit fast dye response. We study the use of disorganized but microphase-separated block polymer…
27 January 2020
ApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialPorous materialRenewable energySAXSSpecific surfaceTechnique

Unveiling the role of hydrothermal carbon dots as anodes in sodium-ion batteries with ultrahigh initial coulombic efficiency

Xie, Fei; Xu, Zhen; Jensen, Anders C. S.; Ding, Feixiang; Au, Heather; Feng, Jingyu; Luo, Hui; Qiao, Mo; Guo, Zhenyu; Lu, Yaxiang; Drew, Alan J.; Hu, Yong-Sheng; Titirici, Maria-Magdalena

Hard carbon materials are regarded as the most promising anode materials for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) due to their best cost-effectiveness. However, their relatively low specific capacity and initial Coulombic efficiency (ICE) compared with the graphite anode in lithium-ion batteries still limit the energy density for further development. Thus, it is…
27 January 2020
ApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsGISAXSInorganic materialMaterialOrientation analysisPhase analysisRenewable energySAXSSurface structure and patternsTechniqueThin films

Tuning Pore Dimensions of Mesoporous Inorganic Films by Homopolymer Swelling

Reid, Barry; Alvarez-Fernandez, Alberto; Schmidt-Hansberg, Benjamin; Guldin, Stefan

The functionality and applications of mesoporous inorganic films are closely linked to their mesopore dimensions. For material architectures derived from a block copolymer (BCP) micelle coassembly, the pore size is typically manipulated by changing the molecular weight corresponding to the pore-forming block. However, bespoke BCP synthesis is often a costly…
27 January 2020
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialPolymer researchSAXSSelf-assembled materialTechnique

Fragmentation of 1,2-Polybutadiene-block-Poly(ethylene oxide) Micelles in Imidazolium-Based Ionic Liquids

Early, Julia T.; Lodge, Timothy P.

The effect of solvent selectivity on the fragmentation kinetics of spherical micelles formed by a 1,2-polybutadiene-block-poly(ethylene oxide) “BO” copolymer in five 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide-based ionic liquids (ILs), (, where n = methyl, ethyl, butyl, hexyl, and octyl) was investigated by temperature-jump dynamic light scattering (T-jump DLS),…
27 January 2020
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialProteins & DNA/RNASAXSStructural biologyTechnique

Reproducible Preparation of Proteopolymersomes via Sequential Polymer Film Hydration and Membrane Protein Reconstitution

Loo, Siew-Leng; Siti, Winna; Thiyagarajan, Monisha; Torres, Jaume; Wang, Rong; Hu, Xiao

Film rehydration method is commonly used for membrane protein (MP) reconstitution into block copolymer (BCP), but the lack of control in the rehydration step formed a heterogeneous population of proteopolymersomes that interferes with the characterization and performance of devices incorporating them. To improve the self-assembly of polymersomes with simultaneous MP…
27 January 2020
(Hydro)gelsApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsFood scienceLipidsMaterialSAXSSurfactantsTechnique

Development and characterization of a novel soy lecithin-stearic acid and whey protein concentrate bigel system for potential edible applications

Bollom, Mark A.; Clark, Stephanie; Acevedo, Nuria C.

Bigels are a new technology with great potential in the food industry. Their success with drug delivery suggests they may be able to deliver sensitive compounds in foods, such as probiotics and bioactives. The purpose of this study was to develop and characterize a novel, edible bigel system. The bigel…
27 January 2020
(Hydro)gels(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialPolymer researchSAXSTechniqueWAXS

Toughening anti-overswelling semicrystalline polymer hydrogels with ultra-small hydrophobic nanoparticles

Meng, Xiaohui; Wu, Teng; Qiu, Dong

Semicrystalline polymer hydrogels (SC-gels) are intrinsically electrolyte tolerant and over-swelling resistant, emerging as promising candidates for applications in solution environments. However, SC-gels with high mechanical strength are usually brittle. In the present work, by introducing ultra-small hydrophobic nanoparticles, highly-stretchable SC-gels (15 times of its original length) with…
27 January 2020