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Supramolecular Mimic for Bottlebrush Polymers in Bulk.
Milad Golkaram1, Laura Boetje1, Jingjin Dong1
1Macromolecular Chemistry and New Polymeric Materials, Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials and Theoretical Chemistry Group, Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands.
ACS Omega
|October 17, 2019
Summary
Synthesized supramolecular polymers exhibit hierarchical relaxation, similar to bottlebrush polymers, due to immobilized segments. These materials show potential as supersoft elastomers owing to their low elastic modulus.
Area of Science:
- Polymer Science
- Materials Science
- Rheology
Background:
- Entangled linear polymers exhibit distinct relaxation mechanisms.
- Bottlebrush polymers display hierarchical relaxation due to their unique architecture.
- Supramolecular polymers offer tunable properties through reversible associations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To synthesize and characterize supramolecular polymers with brushlike structures.
- To compare the relaxation mechanisms of these supramolecular polymers with conventional bottlebrush polymers.
- To investigate the influence of temperature on the viscoelastic properties and potential applications.
Main Methods:
- Synthesis of poly(tetrahydrofuran) with functionalized end-groups.
- Linear rheology measurements to analyze viscoelastic behavior and relaxation dynamics.
- Variable temperature studies to observe phase transitions and modulus changes.
Main Results:
- Supramolecular polymers demonstrated hierarchical relaxation, including immobilized segments and Rouse-like motions.
- Disentanglement occurred via contour length fluctuations and arm retraction, differing from linear polymer reptation.
- Increased temperature led to a transition from viscoelastic solid to liquid behavior due to backbone depolymerization.
- A significantly lower elastic modulus (kPa range) compared to linear polymers (MPa range) was observed.
Conclusions:
- Supramolecular brushlike polymers mimic the hierarchical relaxation of covalent bottlebrush polymers.
- The observed relaxation mechanisms are attributed to supramolecular backbone immobilization and subsequent dynamics.
- The low elastic modulus and temperature-dependent behavior suggest suitability for supersoft elastomer applications.
