Synthesis and adsorption properties of gold nanoparticles within pores of surface‐functional porous polymer microspheres

Mesoporous polymer microspheres with gold (Au) nanoparticles inside their pores were prepared considering their surface functionality and porosity. The Au/polymer composite microspheres prepared were characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) techniques. The results showed that the adsorption of Au nanoparticles could be increased by imparting the pore structure and surface‐functional groups into the supporting polymer microspheres (in this study, poly (ethylene glycol dimethacrylate‐co‐acrylonitrile) and poly (EGDMA‐co‐AN) system). Above all, from this study, it was established that the porosity of the polymer microspheres is the most important factor that determines the distribution and adsorption amount of face‐centered cubic (fcc) Au nanoparticles in the final products. Our study showed that the continuous adsorption of Au nanoparticles with the aid of the large surface area and surface interaction sites formed more favorably the Au/polymer composite microspheres. The BET measurements of Au/poly(EGDMA‐co‐AN) composite microspheres reveals that the adsorption of Au nanoparticles into the pores kept the pore structure intact and made it more porous. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 5627–5635, 2004     

Synthesis and characterization of white‐light‐emitting polyfluorenes containing orange phosphorescent moieties in the side chain

Two orange phosphorescent iridium complex monomers, 9‐hexyl‐9‐(iridium (III)bis(2‐(4′‐fluorophenyl)‐4‐phenylquinoline‐N,C^2′)(tetradecanedionate‐11,13))‐2,7‐dibromofluorene (Br‐PIr) and 9‐hexyl‐9‐(iridium(III)bis(2‐(4′‐fluorophenyl)‐4‐methylquinoline‐N,C^2′)(tetradecanedionate‐11,13))‐2,7‐dibromofluorene (Br‐MIr), were successfully synthesized. The Suzuki polycondensation of 2,7‐bis(trimethylene boronate)‐9,9‐dioctylfluorene with 2,7‐dibromo‐9,9‐dioctylfluorene and Br‐PIr or Br‐MIr afforded two series of copolymers, PIrPFs and MIrPFs, in good yields, in which the concentrations of the phosphorescent moieties were kept small (0.5–3 mol % feed ratio) to realize incomplete energy transfer. The photoluminescence (PL) of the copolymers showed blue‐ and orange‐emission peaks. A white‐light‐emitting diode with a configuration of indium tin oxide/poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate)/PIr05PF (0.5 mol % feed ratio of Br‐PIr)/Ca/Al exhibited a luminous efficiency of 4.49 cd/A and a power efficiency of 2.35 lm/W at 6.0 V with Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.46, 0.33). The CIE coordinates were improved to (0.34, 0.33) when copolymer MIr10PF (1.0 mol % feed ratio of Br‐MIr) was employed as the white‐emissive layer. The strong orange emission in the electroluminescence spectra in comparison with PL for these kinds of polymers was attributed to the additional contribution of charge trapping in the phosphorescent dopants. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. JPolym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 1746–1757, 2007     

Deformation of styrene—divinylbenzene copolymers and hypercrosslinked polystyrenes during solvent adsorption and desorption

An automated procedure was developed for monitoring fast changes in the size of spherical samples of polymers during their contact with a solvent or drying. The kinetics of bulk deformation in these processes was studied for a series of cross-linked polymers, viz., gel-type and porous styrene—divinylbenzene copolymers and poly(divinylbenzenes), and hypercrosslinked polystyrenes. Gel, macroporous, and hypercrosslinked polystyrenes are substantially different in the rate, mechanism, and degree of swelling, which is associated with the principal differences in their physical structures. An unusual effect of a sharp decrease followed by a temporary increase in the volume of porous polystyrene and poly(divinylbenzene) materials were observed during desorption (evaporation) of organic solvents. Water desorption is accompanied by an excessive bulk compression of porous granules giving rise to negative deformations, which gradually relax to the state equilibrium for the dry polymer. The results of dynamic desorption porometry (for water desorption) are indicative of a bimodal size distribution of micropores in hypercrosslinked polystyrene. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 3, pp. 467–476, March, 2007.     

Fully-angular polyhex chains with minimal total π-electron energy

By Hückel molecular orbital (HMO) theory, the calculation of the total energy of all π-electrons in conjugated hydrocarbons can be reduced to that of E(G)=|λ₁|+|λ₂|+?+|λn|, where λi are the eigenvalues of the corresponding graph G. Denote by Ψn the set of all fully-angular polyhex chains with n hexagons. In this paper, we show that Hn has the minimum total π-electron energy among chains in Ψn, where Hn is the helicene chain.     

A molecular network model to describe the nonlinear viscoelastic behavior of polymers

A transient molecular network model is built to describe the nonlinear viscoelasticity of polymers by considering the effect of entanglement loss and regeneration on the relaxation of molecular strands. It is an extension of previous network theories. The experimental data on three thermoplastic polymers (ABS, PVC and PA6) obtained under various loading conditions are used to test the model. Agreement between the theoretical and experimental curves shows that the suggested model can describe successfully the relaxation behavior of the thermoplastic polymers under different loading rates by using relatively few relaxation modes. Thus the micromechanism responsible for strain-rate dependence of relaxation process and the origin of nonlinear viscoelasticity may be disclosed. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Doctorial Fund     

Current R & D activities at TRCRE in polymer processing by EB

The current status of the R & D activities is presented on electron beam processing of polymers being carried out at TRCRE. Topics included are sterilization of medical products, graft polymers for selective separation or absorbents and curing of liquid prepolymer-monomer systems.     

Complexes in polymers IV. FTIR microscopic characterization of thin organic polymer films containing embedded transition-metal carbonyl complexes

Thin films of polystyrene (PS), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and polystyrene-polyacrylonitrile copolymer (PS-AN), containing various embedded transition-metal complexes, have been studied by FTIR microscopy. The spatial distributions of the transition-metal carbonyl complexes throughout the thin organic polymer films have been determined by a two-dimensional IR mapping procedure. The spectral variations observed in the distribution of the metal carbonyls throughout the different polymer films are discussed. The IR data show that the technique used to prepare the organometallic-embedded thin films (viz. freeze-drying of solutions followed by hot mechanical pressing of the residues) does in general lead to homogeneous films which may eventually find industrial application, e.g. as membrane sensors for small molecules.     

有机薄膜器件负电阻特性的影响因素

研究了影响有机染料掺杂聚合物薄膜器件负电阻特性的因素，为探索有机负电阻的机理提供实验依据。实验中制备了多种有机染料掺杂聚合物薄膜器件，研究了有机小分子染料、聚合物基体、薄膜组成及厚度、ITO和聚苯胺阳极等对有机染料掺杂聚合物薄膜器件负电阻特性的影响。在室温、大气环境下，所制备的多种有机染料掺杂聚合物器件在所加电压为3～4V时，观察到明显的负电阻特性，电流峰谷比最大约为8。负电阻现象及峰谷比的大小受膜厚和器件的结构、制备工艺等影响。提出用负电阻和二极管并联组成的等效电路模型解释影响负电阻特性的因素，认为负电阻特性与载流子的不平衡注入有关。在此基础上设计、合成了主链含唔二唑电子传输基团的可溶性聚对苯撑乙烯衍生物，该聚合物兼具空穴和电子传输功能，在空气中具有较稳定的N型负电阻特性。进一步控制相关材料和工艺条件，有可能得到易于控制的负阻效应，开发出新型的有机负电阻器件。