Polymer Conformation under Confinement

Polymers

George A. Voyiatzis¹  Konstantinos S. Andrikopoulos¹  Stavros Bollas²  Kiriaki Chrissopoulou²  Spiros H. Anastasiadis² 

[1] Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences, Foundation for Research and Technology, Hellas, P.O. Box 1414, 265 04 Patras, Greece;Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser, Foundation for Research and Technology, Hellas, P.O. Box 1527, 711 10 Heraklion Crete, Greece;

关键词: polymer nanocomposites;    layered silicates;    intercalation;    confinement;    chain conformation;   

DOI  :  10.3390/polym9020073

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The conformation of polymer chains under confinement is investigated in intercalated polymer/layered silicate nanocomposites. Hydrophilic poly(ethylene oxide)/sodium montmorillonite, PEO/Na+-MMT, hybrids were prepared utilizing melt intercalation with compositions where the polymer chains are mostly within the ~1 nm galleries of the inorganic material. The polymer chains are completely amorphous in all compositions even at temperatures where the bulk polymer is highly crystalline. Attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) is utilized to investigate the conformation of the polymer chains over a broad range of temperatures from below to much higher than the bulk polymer melting temperature. A systematic increase of the gauche conformation relatively to the trans is found with decreasing polymer content both for the C–C and the C–O bonds that exist along the PEO backbone indicating that the severe confinement and the proximity to the inorganic surfaces results in a more disordered state of the polymer.

【 授权许可】

Unknown