Effect of Vacancy Defects on the Young's Modulus and Fracture Strength of Graphene: A Molecular Dynamics Study

The Young's modulus of graphene with various rectangular and circular vacancy defects is investigated by molecular dynamics simulation. By comparing with the results calculated from an effective spring model, it is demonstrated that the Young's modulus of graphene is largely correlated to the size of vacancy defects perpendicular to the stretching direction. And a linear reduction of Young's modulus with the increasing concentration of mono‐atomic‐vacancy defects (i.e., the slope of ?0.03) is also observed. The fracture behavior of graphene, including the fracture strength, crack initiation and propagation are then studied by the molecular dynamics simulation, the effective spring model, and the quantized fracture mechanics. The blunting effect of vacancy edges is demonstrated, and the characterized crack tip radius of 4.44 Å is observed.     

Synthesis of mikto‐topology star polymer containing one cyclic arm

Well‐defined mikto‐topology star polystyrene composed of one cyclic arm and four linear arms was synthesized by a combination of atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and Cu‐catalyzed azide‐alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) click reaction. First, the bromine‐alkyne α,ω‐linear polystyrenes containing four hydroxyl groups protected with acetone‐based ketal groups were synthesized by ATRP of styrene using a designed initiator. Then, the bromine end‐group was converted to the azide and the linear polystyrene was cyclized intra‐molecularly by the CuAAC reaction. The four hydroxyl groups were released by deprotection and then esterified with 2‐bromoisobutyryl bromide to produce a cyclic polymer bearing four ATRP initiating units. By subsequent ATRP of styrene to grow linear polymers with the cyclic polystyrene as a macroinitiator, the mikto‐topology star polymers were prepared. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Synthesis of tetrasubstituted thiophenes from pyridinium 1,4-zwitterionic thiolates and modified activated alkynes

Pyridinium 1,4-zwitterionic thiolates were applied to a formal [3 + 2] annulation reaction with modified activated alkynes, affording various tetrasubstituted thiophenes with aryl, alkenyl, alkyl or silyl group at the special position. The structural modification of alkyne substrates enabled the synthesis of diverse thiophenes to be achieved using the pyridinium 1,4-zwitterionic thiolates as the sulfur-containing building blocks. This approach is metal-free and catalyst-free.     

SYNTHESIS AND PROPERTIES OF ANILING ANILING AND 0-AMINOBENZENESULFONIC ACID COPOLYMER*

Poly(aniline- co-o-aminobenzenesulfonic acid) (PAOABSA) as a water soluble conducting polymerwas synthesized by chemical polymerization. The productivity and the room-temperature conductivity of thecopolymer were measured as a function of the reaction conditions, such as reaction temperature, the ratio ofoxidant to monomer and the degree of sulfonation defined as the ratio of sulfur to nitrogen atoms(S/N). Themain results obtained are summarized as follows : (1) lower reaction temperature (at about 0℃) is favorablefor the enhancement of the room-temperature conductivity of the copolymer; (2) higher content of oxidant isunfavorable for increasing the room-temperature conductivity of the copolymer; (3) both productivity androom-temperature conductivity of the copolymer decrease with increase of the degree of sulfonation whichwas always lower than 0.5 even an excess of o-aminobenzenesulfonic acid was added, probably because thereactivity ratio of aniline (γ=2.99± 0.05) is much higher than that of o-aminobenzenesulfonic acid (γ_2 = 0.06±0.02) estimated by using Fineman-Ross method and least square method.