SKM 2021 – scientific programme
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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik
CPP 4: Focus: The Physics of Adaptive Polymer Networks
CPP 4.6: Talk
Tuesday, September 28, 2021, 12:15–12:30, H3
Structural characterization of covalently connected amphiphilic star polymer conetworks — •Reinhard Scholz1, Lucas Löser2, Kay Saalwächter2, Carolin Bunk1, Frank Böhme1, and Michael Lang1 — 1Leibniz Institut für Polymerforschung, Hohe Str. 6, 01069 Dresden, Germany — 2Institut für Physik - NMR, Martin-Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Betty-Heimann-Str. 7, 06120 Halle, Germany
Polymer networks consisting of complementary four functional stars of poly ethylene glycol (PEG) and poly caprolactone (PCL) were synthesized via covalent coupling of complementary end groups. The equilibrium swelling in various solvents revealed either compatibility of both polymer components with good solvents for both of them like THF or toluene, or a reduced swelling in a polar solvent like water, representing a selective solvent for the PEG component only. Complementary X-ray scattering studies allowed to assign the structure factor to a swollen conetwork (in THF or toluene), or to a swollen PEG component connecting embedded clusters of PCL (in water). These experimental results were accompanied by simulations of network formation as a function of polymer concentration during preparation, and subsequent swelling in a cosolvent or a selective solvent. The calculated structure factor arising from the simulated model networks reveals a typical length scale for the size and distance of the PCL clusters, in reasonable agreement with the dependence of the observed scattering intensity on wave vector.