Structural colored balloons consisting of polystyrene microcapsules in water

Structural colored balloons (SCBs) consisting of polystyrene microcapsules in water were prepared and characterized. SCBs were produced by the solvent evaporation method of W/O/W-type double emulsion. Because the surface thickness of SCB was controlled to be comparable to a visible-light wavelength, SCB developed various structural colors from violet to red depending on the surface thickness. SCB characterization revealed that (1) the surface thickness was independent of SCB size, (2) the developing color distribution was random, and (3) the surface thickness was strongly related to the developing color. The relationship between surface thickness, developed color, and capsule size can be predicted by an optical theory. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images proved the validity of the theoretical calculation.     

利用呼吸图案法制备聚(苯乙烯-b-丙烯腈)有序多孔薄膜

以自制的聚(苯乙烯-b-丙烯腈)(PS-b-PAN)嵌段共聚物为成膜材料, 采用呼吸图案法制备了有序多孔薄膜, 采用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)对薄膜形貌进行了分析, 研究了聚合物浓度、溶剂种类及共聚物结构对薄膜结构的影响. 结果表明, 薄膜表层为多孔结构, 且孔为圆形、以六方阵列形式排列; 薄膜表层下面是蜂窝状结构.以三氯甲烷(CHCl₃)为溶剂时, 在较高浓度下制备的薄膜表层孔间距较大, 蜂窝结构尺寸较小, 且形成了多层结构. 与CHCl₃为溶剂时相比, 挥发速度较快的二硫化碳(CS₂)作溶剂时制备的多孔薄膜有序性较好, 薄膜表层孔径和孔间距均较大, 蜂窝结构尺寸较小. 以没有PAN链段的聚苯乙烯大分子引发剂(PS-Cl)为成膜材料时, 制备的薄膜表层没有形成多孔结构, 而是形成了窝状结构. 同时, 通过对薄膜表层晕的研究证明了多孔薄膜表层缺陷是由水滴处于液膜下较深的位置造成的.     

Kinetics and dynamics of dissolution/mixing of a high-viscosity liquid phase in a low-viscosity solvent phase

We studied mixing in the initially separated binary mixture of polystyrene/5CB liquid crystal and ternary mixtures of water/surfactant C12E5/polymer PEG system. In both systems the domains of one phase were characterized by a much higher viscosity than the solvent matrix. We demonstrated experimentally that during mixing these domains decrease their size linearly with time without a visible change of the optical contrast (i.e., without a rapid change of their compositions). Computer simulations and a theoretical model explain quantitatively our experimental observations.     

High-speed gel-permeation chromatography

To establish optimum operating conditions for high-speed gel-permeation chromatography (GPC), the effects of column packing particle size, solvent flow rate, and column length on the separation efficiency have been investigated by using monodisperse polystyrene samples and polystyrene gel columns (TSK-GEL column, Type-H). Decreasing the particle size of the column packing reduces the time required to obtain a given resolution. Monodisperse polystyrene standards were measured under the optimum operating conditions established (gel particle size 5 μ, column length 2 ft, flow rate 2.5 ml/min). The molecular weight distribution of a polymer mixture was determined in less than 10 min with the same accuracy as by the conventional GPC. Such short analysis time enables one to use GPC for in-plant quality control.     

Antiseptic Nanocapsule Formation via Controlling Polymer Deposition onto Water-in-Oil Miniemulsion Droplets

The stable nanodroplet was prepared by inverse miniemulsion with an aqueous antiseptic solution dispersed in an organic medium of solvent/nonsolvent mixture containing an oil-soluble surfactant and the polymer for shell formation. The change in gradient of the solvent/nonsolvent mixture, obtained by heating at 50 °C, led to the precipitation of the polymer in the organic phase and deposition onto the large interphase of the aqueous miniemulsion droplets. The monodisperse polymer nanocapsule, with the size range of 80–240 nm, dispersed in cyclohexane phase was achieved as a function of surfactant concentration. By variation of polymer content, molecular weight and type, an encapsulation efficiency of 20–100% was obtained as detected by proton-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy measurement. The nanocapsule could be easily transferred into water as continuous phase resulting in aqueous dispersion with nanocapsule containing the antiseptic agent as an aqueous core. The encapsulated amount of the antiseptic agent was evaluated to indicate the durability of the nanocapsule's wall. Additionally, the different types of polymer having glass transition temperature ranging from −60 to 100°C have been successfully used. Currently, the research work on the incorporation of nanocapsules onto natural rubber (NR) latex in order to prepare NR latex glove containing the antiseptic agent nanocapsules is carried out. By using the simple and versatile layer-by-layer (LbL) technique based mainly on an electrostatic interaction between oppositely charged species, the deposition of nanocapsules onto NR latex film has successfully been fulfilled.     

Optical Detection of Nonequilibrium Swelling Behavior of a Polymer Gel upon Solvent Substitution

We report a novel transient swelling and shrinking behavior of a thin poly(acrylamide)-based gel film upon solvent substitution between water and ethylene glycol. These size changes could be optically detected through a change in the Bragg diffraction wavelength for the colloidal crystal of charged polystyrene latex particles that was fixed in the gel. The transient size change that was observed in this study could not be explained on the basis of the equilibrium characteristics, but it was attributable to the transient variation of osmotic pressure in the gel.     

Intrinsic viscosity of polystyrene in mixed solvents

The intrinsic viscosity of a single sample of polystyrene was measured as a function of the composition of solvent in three mixed solvent pairs. The parameter Y introduced by Shultz and Flory was useful for prediction of trends, but severely overestimated the effect of solvent (1)–solvent (2) interaction on the expansion of polymer coils. The system polystyrene–cyclohexane–ethyl acetate was studied in detail for five samples of polystyrene. The analysis of the data provided strong experimental proof of a strict validity of the Mark–Houwink–Sakurada relation. The dependence of the Mark–Houwink–Sakurada exponent α on the composition of the solvent mixture was unexpectedly unsymmetrical. The unperturbed dimentions of the polystyrene chain are reduced by specific interaction of polystyrene with carbonyl groups in the solvent mixture.     

Stabilization of self‐assembled microdroplets using short chain alcohols

The condensation of water vapor on a volatile polymeric solution leads to a porous surface after evaporation of both solvent and water. However, the stabilization of the water microdroplet is of great importance, which can be achieved using specific polymer or adding a third substance to the polymer solution. Short chain alcohols (methanol, ethanol, and n‐propanol) are utilized to fabricate a self‐assembled porous honeycomb film of linear, low molecular weight polystyrene using the breath figure technique. A combination of breath figure processing and the effect of alcohol on a water droplet can stabilize the pattern and make pores on the surface of the polymer film. The quality of the porous honeycomb film is strongly dependent on the type of alcohols and the concentration of polymer. In a specific range of polymer and alcohol concentration, pores cover all the surface of the polymer film. This method offers the possibility of producing a honeycomb structure with no trace of additive residual after the fabrication process and avoiding polymer modification. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015 , 53, 709–718     

聚苯乙烯-嵌段-聚丁二烯有序多孔膜在可收缩膜上的形变研究和光学性质

利用溶剂散逸自组装法在潮湿的条件下,制备了聚苯乙烯-聚丁二烯嵌段聚合物（PS-b-PB）有序多孔膜。 利用聚乙烯可收缩膜将PS-b-PB多孔膜进行两次收缩,形成小孔径的有序多孔膜。 通过收缩,膜上的孔由圆形变为长方形或者梭形,孔的尺寸从微米级收缩至亚微米级。 利用扫描电子显微镜对膜收缩过程中2种形状产生的机理进行了研究。 结果表明,PS-b-PB结合了聚苯乙烯（PS）和聚丁二烯（PB）两个均聚物的优点,收缩后仍然保持膜结构的平整性,从而将不可见的热场变化转变为可见的光学变化。     

Porous structures of polymer films prepared by spin coating with mixed solvents under humid condition

We investigate the effects of interfacial energy between water and solvent as well as polymer concentration on the formation of porous structures of polymer films prepared by spin coating of cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) in mixed solvent of tetrahydrofuran (THF) and chloroform under humid condition. The interfacial energy between water and the solvent was gradually changed by the addition of chloroform to the solvent. At a high polymer concentration (0.15 g/cm3 in THF), porous structures were limited only at the top surfaces of CAB films, regardless of interfacial energies, due to the high viscosity of the solution. At a medium concentration (approximately 0.08 g/cm3 in THF), CAB film had relatively uniform pores at the top surface and very small pores inside the film because of the mixing of the water droplets with THF solution. When chloroform was added to THF, pores at the inner CAB film had a comparable size with those at the top surface because of the reduced degree of the mixing between the water droplets and the mixed solvent. A further decrease in polymer concentration (0.05 g/cm3 in THF) caused the final films to have a two-layer porous structure, and the size of pores at each layer was almost the same.     

Synthesis and Characterization of Poly(ether-block-amide) Membranes

Poly(ether-block-amide) membranes were made via casting a solution on a nonsolvent (water) surface. In this research, effects of different parameters such as ratio of solvent mixture (n-butanol/isopropanol), temperature, composition of coagulation bath (water) and polymer concentration, on quality of the thin film membranes were studied. The mechanism of membrane formation involves solution spreading, solvent–nonsolvent exchange, and partial evaporation of the solvent steps. Solvent- nonsolvent exchange is the main step in membrane formation and determines membrane morphology. However, at higher temperature of polymeric solution greater portion of solvent evaporates. The results showed that type of demixing process (mutual affinity between solvent and nonsolvent) has important role in film formation. Also, addition of solvent to the nonsolvent bath is effective on membrane morphology. The film quality enhances with increasing isopropanol ratio in the solvent mixture. This behavior can be related to increasing of solution surface tension, reduction of interfacial tension between solution and nonsolvent and delayed solvent-nonsolvent demixing. Uniform films were made at a temperature rang of 60–80 °C and a polymer concentration of 4–7 wt%. Morphology of the membranes was investigated with scanning electron micrograph (SEM). Pervaporation of ethyl butyrate/water mixtures was studied using these membranes and high separation performance was achieved. For ethyl butyrate/water mixtures, It was observed that both permeation flux and separation factor increase with increasing ethyl butyrate content in the feed. Increasing temperature in limited range studied resulted in decreasing separation factor and increasing permeation flux.     

Polymer–cosolvent systems. XI. Polystyrene dissolved in mixtures of diethyl ether and nitromethane

The ternary system nitromethane (1) +diethyl ether (2) +polystyrene (3) has been examined by determining the demixing behavior of the polymer in the temperature–solvent composition plane. Enhanced solvation of the polymer is evidenced by the ability of the mixture to dissolve very high molecular weight (10⁷ g/mol) polystyrene at intermediate solvent compositions compared with the behavior in the two solvents separately. The cosolvent action of the mixture is analyzed in terms of modern theories of polymer solution free volume.     

Macroporous polymer thin film prepared from temporarily stabilized water-in-oil emulsion

We report a simple and convenient method for fabricating ordered porous structure in a polymeric thin film. A temporarily stabilized water-in-oil emulsion, where aqueous droplets were dispersed in the medium of polymer-organic solvent solution, was utilized for the preparation of porous structure. The water-in-oil emulsion was simply prepared by sonicating the mixture of water and polymer-organic solvent solution without any colloid stabilizer. The growth of aqueous droplets was profoundly retarded by dissolving a small amount of sucrose, selectively soluble in the dispersed phase. The prepared emulsion was recovered onto a substrate through dip-coating and subsequently air-dried to get a well-ordered porous polymer film. The polymer content in the polymer solution phase and the compositional ratio of the aqueous phase to the polymer solution phase was optimized to fabricate well-ordered structures.     

Morphology control of poly(vinylidene fluoride) thin film made with electrospray

Thin polymer films of poly(vinylidene fluoride) were prepared with electrospray. Effects of solvent, initial spray concentration, temperature, solution conductivity, and polymer size on the film morphology were studied with AFM. The two main factors controlling polymer film morphology are the droplet size of the spray and the viscosity of the solution at deposition. These factors determine the flow of the polymer-solvent mixture over the substrate, the density of the film, and its smoothness. The solvent is a key parameter of the entire process. It affects spray stability, polymer solubility, droplet size of the spray, and viscosity of the solution at deposition. Solvents with a low vapor pressure provide a wider window for optimization of other parameters and are therefore preferred over solvents with high vapor pressure. The viscosity at deposition is mainly controlled with the initial spray concentration, polymer size, temperature, and droplet size. The droplet size is best controlled by the conductivity of the solution and the flow rate of the spray.     

Interdiffusion in Polymer Film by Ellipsometry

The long-time approximation for the time-dependence concentration of solvent into film is derived. The interdiffusion coefficients for different temperatures and the different polystyrene molecular weights were calculated by using asymptotic formulae and time-dependence concentrations of solvent into polymer films. The apparent activation energies of interdiffusion were estimated. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.     

Breath figure patterns prepared by spin coating in a dry environment

We introduce a novel method for fabricating breath figure patterns on a homopolymer film by spin coating of polymer solutions with various solvents. The homopolymers employed in this study were cellulose acetate butyrate, monocarboxylated end-functional polystyrene, and poly(methyl methacrylate). Breath figure patterns were generated even when a water-miscible solvent such as tetrahydrofuran (THF) was used as a solvent. We even succeeded in generating breath figure patterns by spin coating even under a dry environment (relative humidity less than 30%), when water was directly added into THF solution. With the combination of the spin coating method, pores with a few hundred nanometers to several micrometers have been generated. We found that the pore size becomes larger with increasing water content in THF solution and decreasing rotating speed. This is equivalent to increasing humidity and decreasing evaporation speed, respectively, in the conventional method, which is direct solvent evaporation under a humid environment. Thus, compared with the conventional method for making breath figure patterns, this method would be very convenient for fabricating large-scale films with various pore sizes.     

Switching and structuring of binary reactive polymer brush layers

Switchable binary polymer brushes grafted to Si-wafers were prepared from hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymer components. When exposed to solvents, either the hydrophobic or the hydrophilic component extends in to the liquid phase, depending on the polarity of the solvent. The hydrophilic component was poly-2-vinylpyridine; the hydrophobic component was made photocrosslinkable in that a polystyrene copolymer containing a photodimerizing chromophore was used. In this system surfaces differing in water contact angle between 60° and 100° can be produced by variation of the solvent. The chromophore was phenylindene, which forms crosslinks upon direct UV-irradiation. Therefore, the polystyrene component can be fixed in the extended or collapsed state. It will be shown that by irradiation through an appropriate mask, surfaces can be structured and the structures fixed. In both the systems structural patterns differing in surface properties were produced and fixed photochemically.     

Wettability of the morphologically and compositionally varied surfaces prepared from blends of well ordered comb-like polymer and polystyrene

Phase-separated surfaces of blends of polystyrene (PS) and well ordered comb-like polymer, poly[(oxy(decylsulfonylmethyl)ethylene)] (CH(3)-10SE), were prepared by spin casting polymer mixtures. Various surface morphologies, such as holes, islands, connected islands and pillars, were prepared by changing the blend compositions. Due to the influence of the CH(3)-10SE domain with a well ordered molecular conformation, a very low energy surface (≈22mN/m) was created, which is close to the value of the pure polymer (≈20mN/m), even when the blends contained only 20wt.% of the pure polymer. Furthermore, by selective etching the PS domain in the blend surfaces, the advancing contact angles of water and n-hexadecane were highly increased from 113.5° and 43.2° for the pure CH(3)-10SE surface to 133.3° and 67.2° for the CH(3)-10SE structural surfaces with holes prepared using the solvent etching method, respectively. The result of the water advancing contact angles measured on the samples immersed in water over 20days showed that the film stability of CH(3)-10SE could be improved considerably by even adding small amounts of PS.     

Solvent‐induced reversible color changes in block copolymer films and new locking method of structural colors

The well‐defined polystyrene‐block‐poly(4‐vinylpyridine) [PS‐block‐P4VP (SV1); lamellar morphology] and polyisoprene‐block‐poly(α‐methyl styrene) [PI‐block‐PMS (IMS1); PI spherical morphology] diblock copolymers were prepared by sequential anionic polymerization techniques. The segregated chains in the P4VP lamellar layers of the SV1 film (PS lamellae: 41 nm; P4VP lamellae: 51 nm) were crosslinked with 1,4‐dibromobutane. This crosslinked film was insoluble in organic solvents such as benzene and chloroform (CHCl₃) and exhibited various structural colors under the swollen state. The IMS1 film (body‐centered cubic lattice, diameter of PI spheres: 53 nm) was soaked in the mixture of CHCl₃/hexane (1 : 10, v/v). This solvent system resulted in the swelling of PI spherical domains. The transmitted and reflected light color through the swollen film changed to a deep blue. Such color changes were reversible upon swelling in solvent and evaporation of the solvent. Subsequently, photofunctional diethyldithiocarbamate (DC) groups were introduced into the PS block of the parent block copolymer IMS1 by means of polymer reactions. The locking of the cubic lattice was performed with living radical graft copolymerization from DC groups of swollen as‐cast film in methyl methacrylate (MMA) under UV irradiation. The locking of structural colors such as blue and green was also achieved, varying the content of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) grafted chains. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

混合溶剂作淋洗剂的体积排除色谱谱图中溶剂化高分子峰和溶剂峰之间内在关系的理论分析

根据体积排除色谱(SEC)研究高分子溶质优先溶剂化的基本原理,证明在SEC色谱图中被束缚溶剂产生的面积与自由溶剂产生的面积大小相等方向相反,在研究优先溶剂化时从高分子峰入手和从自由溶剂峰入手在理论上具有等价性.分析表明,通过对溶剂化高分子峰的研究,还可以得到另一个重要物理参数——恒化学位时高分子溶液的折光指数增量.