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Sacrificial bonds break to dissipate energy and can increase the toughness of materials. Incorporating sacrificial bonds into hydrogels through the double network process enabled the first extremely tough hydrogels. In this Focus Review, we discuss the nature of sacrificial bonds, and how they can be used on the macroscale to enable tough soft composite materials. By matching the essence of the double network concept, we can make tough materials from macroscale composites for biomedical and engineering applications.
In this review, recent developments in data-driven approaches for structure-property relationships in polymer science based on statistical/informatics methods are introduced. A concept and some methods in data-driven science to obtain the desired properties and understand the mechanisms in polymeric materials are first explained. Additionally, various examples, such as the description of a single chain, phase separations, network polymers, crystalline polymers, and machine learning potential are introduced.
This paper outlines recent progress in various solution-processed fluorescent polymer tandem organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), white phosphorescent tandem OLEDs, and perovskite nanocrystal (NC) LEDs. Tandem OLEDs, which comprise multiple light-emitting units stacked in series through a charge-generation layer, have attracted considerable attention for display applications owing to their high efficiencies and long operational lifetimes. Metal halide perovskite NCs have also been considered promising light-emitting materials owing to their excellent optoelectrical properties.
Dispersibility and interfacial interactions are the important factors to exploit the high potential of nanocarbons for polymer/nanocarbon nanocomposites. However, carbon backbone with low reactivity has often cause agglomerations and defects from the interfaces. The use of surfactants and the surface modifications of nanocarbons have widely been conducted to improve these issues. This paper reviews recent advances in the design of polymer/nanocarbon nanocomposites, focusing on our research on the reinforcement effect of nanodiamond on polymer nanocomposites.
In this work, POSS with an acetylacetonato group (POSS-acac) and metal–coordination polymers comprising POSS-acac (CP(Metal)s) were synthesized. The possible structure of CP(Metal)s was estimated from the UV–Vis spectrum and the residual mass after burning off and the surface morphologies of the CP(Metal)s were observed using scanning electron microscopy.
The biobased, rigid, and fire-retardant monomer (BDBE) was synthesized and employed in furanic polyester (PECBFs) preparation. The Tg of PECBFs increased up to 95 °C when BDBE content reached 25%. In combustion test, the samples self-extinguished immediately when BDBE content are more than 15%. The obtained copolyesters were expected to be applicated in the fields of firefighting materials and electronics.
The direct characterization of various loops with different topologies within polymer networks remains a major challenge in the field of polymer and materials science. We propose a partially junction-cleavable network as a universal platform for directly probing various loops in polymer networks. Various loops are formed in the copolymerization of deliberately designed polyfunctional monomers with partially cleavable and uncleavable junctions. The network transforms to soluble oligomers through cleavage at the junctions, and partial loops are preserved. The preserved monoloops and spiro-biloops with various sizes are directly qualified by MALDI-TOF MS, which has never been achieved by any current methods.
Systematic trade-off relationship between increased stress and decreased strain range at soft elasticity with the addition of crosslinkers in liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs). Control of the crosslink density is within the range of already-established synthetic process adjustments. By selecting the molar ratio of the crosslinkers, the set of stress and strain range at soft elasticity can be fixed arbitrarily. By controlling the crosslink density of LCEs at different sites, multimodal actuators can be realized.
No new chemical compounds were found in the copolymer acrylamide – acrylonitrile – sodium 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonate with the composition of [72]:[10]:[18] that was subjected to thermohydrolysis at temperatures up to 160 °C, with the exception of carboxyl groups in place of amides. Thermohydrolysis up to 200 °C causes partial degradation and changes in the acrylate copolymer. The intrinsic viscosity, molecular weight and average sizes of the solvated copolymer macromolecular coils were found to decrease with increasing hydrothermal treatment temperature.
Controlled structural color visibility was achieved using colloidal particles covered with a catechol polymer shell layer. When exposed to ammonia vapor, the pellet sample obtained by assembling the particles extended the conjugated length of the shell polymer, giving the particles the ability to absorb scattered light in situ and improving the visibility of structural colors.
