Category

(Natural) polymers

(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialParticle interactionsPhase analysisPolymer researchSAXSSelf-assembled materialSizeTechnique

Order–Order Phase Transitions Induced by Supercritical Carbon Dioxide in Triblock Copolymer Thin Films

Abate, Anabella A.; Vu, Giang Thi; Piqueras, Cristian M.; del Barrio, María Cecilia; Gómez, Leopoldo R.; Catalini, Gabriel; Schmid, Friederike; Vega, Daniel A.

We study the influence of supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) on the phase behavior of a cylinder-forming polystyrene-block-polybutadiene-b-polystyrene triblock copolymer thin film. Solvent annealing with scCO2 can produce patterns with long-range order but these structures become unstable for thin films with small thicknesses. These results are in good agreement with self-consistent…
sergio.rodrigues@xenocs.com
12 March 2021
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialPolymer researchSAXSSelf-assembled materialTechnique

CO2-Triggered and temperature-switchable crystallization-driven self-assembly of a semicrystalline block copolymer in aqueous medium

Zhu, Rui; Luo, Xinjie; Feng, Yujun; Billon, Laurent

The synthesis of a semicrystalline block copolymer comprising a hydrophilic poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) pure block and an amphiphilic poly(acrylic acid)-r-poly(octadecyl acrylate) (PAA-r-PODA) random block by nitroxide-mediated polymerization (NMP) is reported. The aggregation behavior of the copolymer in aqueous medium was studied by using a MicroCal VP differential scanning calorimeter (VP-DSC)…
sergio.rodrigues@xenocs.com
12 March 2021
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacterizationCrystalline fractionCustomer publicationsMaterialPhase analysisPolymer researchSAXSTechniqueTemperatureWAXS

Determination of the Critical Size of Secondary Nuclei on the Lateral Growth Front of Lamellar Polymer Crystals

Zhang, Shujing; Han, Jiarui; Gao, Yang; Guo, Baohua; Reiter, Günter; Xu, Jun

Nucleation is the rate-limiting first step of crystallization. The energy barrier related to form the critical nucleus predominantly affects the nucleation rate. Determination of the size of the critical nucleus is a key for understanding the mechanism of nucleation and allows testing theories. However, it has been a great challenge…
sergio.rodrigues@xenocs.com
12 March 2021
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCrystalline fractionCustomer publicationsGISAXSGIWAXSMaterialRenewable energySurface structure and patternsTechniqueThin films

Revisiting the Role of Graphene Quantum Dots in Ternary Organic Solar Cells: Insights into the Nanostructure Reconstruction and Effective Förster Resonance Energy Transfer

Sung, Sae Jin; Kim, Jae Ho; Gihm, Se Hoon; Park, Jisoo; Cho, Young Shik; Yang, Seung Jae; Park, Chong Rae

Recent studies have introduced the graphene quantum dot (GQD) as a third material for the bulk-heterojunction polymer:fullerene solar cell (PSC) to improve light conversion efficiency. Although exciton generation/dissociation and carrier transport in the GQD-incorporated light-absorbing layer are strongly influenced by the ternary component, detailed analysis on the role of GQD…
sergio.rodrigues@xenocs.com
12 March 2021
(Hydro)gels(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialParticle interactionsPolymer researchSAXSShapeSizeTechnique

Mechanical Properties and Failure Behavior of Physically Assembled Triblock Copolymer Gels with Varying Midblock Length

Mishra, Satish; Prado, Rosa M. Badani; Zhang, Song; Lacy, Thomas E.; Gu, Xiaodan; Kundu, Santanu

Mechanical properties including the failure behavior of physically assembled gels or physical gels are governed by their network structure. To investigate such behavior, we consider a physical gel system consisting of poly(styrene)-poly(isoprene)-poly(styrene) in mineral oil. In these gels, the endblock (PS) molecular weights are not significantly different, whereas, the midblock…
sergio.rodrigues@xenocs.com
12 March 2021
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialNanoparticles & colloidsOrientation analysisParticlesSAXSTechnique

Polymer-Induced Modification of Cellulose Nanocrystal Assemblies in Aqueous Suspensions

Cohen, Neta; Ochbaum, Guy; Levi-Kalisman, Yael; Bitton, Ronit; Yerushalmi-Rozen, Rachel

The effect of adsorbing, nonionic polymers on the phase behavior of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) is of interest for design and preparation of functional hybrids. CNC assembly into a chiral nematic phase (N*) was investigated in the presence of highly hydrated poly(vinyl alcohol) (HPVA), low hydrated PVA (LPVA), and poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP).…
sergio.rodrigues@xenocs.com
12 March 2021
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacterizationCustomer publicationsGIWAXSMaterialOrientation analysisRenewable energySurface structure and patternsTechniqueThin films

Surface modification of ZnO electron transport layers with glycine for efficient inverted non-fullerene polymer solar cells

Zhu, Xiaoqian; Guo, Bing; Fang, Jin; Zhai, Tianshu; Wang, Yanan; Li, Guangwei; Zhang, Jianqi; Wei, Zhixiang; Duhm, Steffen; Guo, Xia; Zhang, Maojie; Li, Yongfang

Interfacial engineering is crucial to improve the photovoltaic performance of polymer solar cells (PSCs). In this study, we demonstrate efficient inverted non-fullerene PSCs with ZnO modified by nontoxic glycine (Gly) as the electron transport layer (ETL). With the modification of Gly, work function of the ETL interlayer was decreased from…
sergio.rodrigues@xenocs.com
12 March 2021
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialOtherPolymer researchSAXSTechniqueWAXS

Rheological modifiers based on supramolecular block copolymers: From weak associations to interconnected micelles

Goldansaz, Hadi; Jangizehi, Amir; Nikravan, Goolia; Verkinderen, Olivier; Goderis, Bart; Ghaffarian, Seyed Reza; van Ruymbeke, Evelyne; Ahmadi, Mostafa

The rheological spectra of poly(n-butyl acrylate) in the presence of a series of P(nBA-b-HEMA) rheology modifiers show a two-step relaxation process originating from the PnBA matrix and the self-assemblies. The HEMA segments are further grafted with strong, hydrogen bonding UPy groups, which both magnifies and slows down the relaxation of…
sergio.rodrigues@xenocs.com
12 March 2021
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacterizationCustomer publicationsGIWAXSMaterialOrientation analysisOtherSurface structure and patternsTechniqueThin films

Highly Ordered Semiconducting Polymer Arrays for Sensitive Photodetectors

Wei, Xiao; Gao, Hanfei; Feng, Jiangang; Pi, Yueyang; Zhang, Bo; Zhai, Yu; Wen, Wen; He, Mingqian; Matthews, James R.; Wang, Hongxiang; Li, Yang; Jiang, Shimei; Jiang, Lei; Wu, Yuchen

Semiconducting conjugated polymers possess attractive optoelectronic properties and low-cost solution processability and are inherently mechanically flexible. However, the device performance is susceptible to the fabrication methods because of the relatively weak intermolecular interaction of the polymers and their inherent conformational and energetic disorder. An efficient fabrication technique…
sergio.rodrigues@xenocs.com
12 March 2021