Molecular composition distribution of polycarbonate/polystyrene blends in cylindrical nanopores

Abstract

Polycarbonate/polystyrene (PC/PS) blend nanorods with various diameters were prepared by melt-wetting porous anodic aluminum oxide templates with partially miscible blend melts. The molecular composition distribution of PC/PS blend polymers inside nanoporous templates of varying diameters was investigated by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared and differential scanning calorimetry. A gradient composition distribution of the polymer blends formed in the nanopores owing to the difference in viscosity between the two polymers during capillary flow. The PC content of the nanorods increased from top to bottom along the long axis of the rods but decreased with rod diameter owing to stronger confinement by the nanopores.

Effect of Nonsolvent on the Formation of Polymer Nanomaterials in the Nanopores of Anodic Aluminum Oxide Templates

“…Despite these works, it is still a challenge to fully understand the formation mechanism of polymer nanomaterials made by templates. The formation process of these materials involves many interrelated factors, such as the type of polymer, the polymer molecular weight, the solution concentration, the type of solvent, the drying condition, the size of the nanopore, and the chemistry of the pore wall 18–25. These factors are important in controlling the properties, morphologies, and sizes of polymer nanomaterials made by templates, but they still require further investigation.…”

Ordered Organic Nanostructures Fabricated from Anodic Alumina Oxide Templates for Organic Bulk‐Heterojunction Photovoltaics

“…Therefore, nano porous AAO templates with self-organized hexagonal arrays of uniform parallel nanochannels have been intensively utilized as a popular template system for fabricating various functional polymer nanostructures. By infi ltrating the polymers into nanopores, unusual 1D nanoscale structures with novel morphology, [116][117][118][119][120][121] specifi c orientation, [122][123][124][125][126][127][128][129][130][131] reduced crystallinity, [130][131][132][133] enhanced mobility, [ 134 ] gradient distributed composition, [ 115,135,136 ] gradient distributed crystallites, [137][138][139] and high thermal conductivity [ 140 ] were produced in nanopores of AAO templates.…”

Characterization of an isotactic polystyrene/poly(2,6-dimethylphenylene oxide) nanorod blend with gradient composition and crystallinity

“…iPS was kindly supplied by Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., and PPO was purchased from Aldrich. To minimize the influence of polymers with different molecular weight forming gradient molecular composition 27,28,35 on the polymer crystallization behavior 36 in nanopores, the iPS and PPO were fractionated first by successive precipitation using toluene (for iPS) and CHCl 3 (for PPO) as solvents and methanol as the nonsolvent, 37,38 and then by a recycling preparative HPLC (Japan Analytical Industry Co., Ltd., LC-9104) equipped with an RI detector (JAI RI-7s) using CHCl 3 as eluent. iPS with M n of 121,000 (M w /M n = 1.16) and PPO with M n of 24,300 (M w /M n = 1.16) were obtained and used in this study.…”

“…Composition gradient was revealed in amorphous nanorods of completely miscible poly(2,6-dimethylphenylene oxide)/polystyrene (PPO/PS) blends 27 and partially miscible polycarbonate/polystyrene (PC/PS) blends. 28 In semi-crystalline polymer nanorods of isotactic polystyrene (iPS), gradient distribution in both crystallinity and orientation of the crystallites along the length direction of the nanorod was observed. 29 These findings inspire us to further explore a more complicated system, polymer blends with one semicrystalline component, where interplay between composition gradient and crystallization may be present.…”