MRSEC Seminar

Co-continuous Morphology Resulting from Competing Interactions in Reacting Polymer Blends and Its Practical Implication

Qui Tran-Cong-Miyata

Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering
Graduate School of Science and Technology
Kyoto Institute of Technology

Friday, April 4, 2:00 pm

Nano 4003

It has been known that phase separation of polymer blends induced by photochemical reactions such as photoisomerization and photodimerization exhibits a typical behavior of systems with competing interactions. In this talk, we will demonstrate that it is possible to generate and control a variety of co-continuous morphologies such as spatially graded bi-continuous, hierarchical structures, and/or tri-continuous morphology with a　controllable distribution of characteristic length scales by taking advantages of the competitions between phase separation and photochemical reactions in multi-component polymers.

As an example for application of these co-continuous structures, photochemical reactions were used to drive the phase separation of a IPNs (interpenetrating polymer networks) containing multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM) revealed the existence of a CNTs network percolating throughout the reacting IPNs. These LSCM results are in agreement with the electrical conductivity data obtained for the same polymer/carbon nanotubes composites. The experimental results will be presented and discussed in conjunction with phase separation of multicomponent polymers.

Graded bi-continuous morphology of poly(cross-styrene)-inter-poly(cross-methyl methacrylate) IPNs generated by UV irradiation: PS-rich phase (bright, green), PMMA-rich phase (dark, black).

Host: Professor Monica Olvera de la Cruz, MSE