A facile approach is proposed to one‐pot synthesis of two kinds of nanoparticles: a new type of PS nanobowls (a hole appearing at the bottom of nanobowl) and PS/silica hybrid multipod‐like nanoparticles. The two type of nanoparticles generated together during polymerization could be separated easily by centrifugation. Furthermore, the structure of nanobowls could be easily controlled by the weight ratio of monomer/silica. In addition, we find that the multipod‐like nanoparticles play important roles in hydrophobic properties. The water contact angle increased from 24.0° to 143.3° after coated with the multipod‐like nanoparticles.
We report the synthesis of a series of block copolymers consisting of a rod‐like semiconducting poly(2,5‐di(2′‐ethylhexyloxy)‐1,4‐phenylenevinylene) (DEH‐PPV) block and a flexible poly(lactic acid) (PLA) block that can be selectively degraded under mild conditions. Such selectively degradable block copolymers are designed as self‐assembling templates for bulk heterojunction donor–acceptor layers in organic solar cells. A lamellar microphase‐separated domain structure was identified for block copolymers with PLA volume fractions between 29 and 79% in bulk and thin films using SAXS, TEM, and AFM. Depending on the ratio of the two blocks we find either lamellae oriented parallel or perpendicular to the substrate in thin films.
This paper reports a new polyimide design with high internal free volume elements for fast mass transport simultaneously with high selectivity. Here, we show that the polymer design using a three‐dimensional rigid molecular structure having internal void space can lead to the formation of high fractional free volume with proper cavity size to separate small gas molecules with high selectivities as high permeabilities. These findings could strongly impact emerging gas separation applications using polymeric membranes such as natural gas purification and biogas purification to get clean energy resources.
