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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik
CPP 15: Poster Session I
CPP 15.53: Poster
Montag, 17. März 2025, 19:00–21:00, P4
Amphiphilic Monomers Bridge Hydrophobic Polymers and Water — •Guido Kusters1,2,3, Guogao Zhang1,4, Zheqi Chen1,5, and Zhigang Suo1 — 1Harvard University — 2Eindhoven University of Technology — 3Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization — 4Xi'an Jiaotong University — 5Zhejiang University
Water dissolves a hydrophilic polymer but not a hydrophobic polymer. However, many hydrophilic polymer monomers are amphiphilic, with a hydrophobic vinyl group for radical polymerization and a hydrophilic group, and so may form solutions with both water and hydrophobic polymers. Ternary mixtures of amphiphilic monomers, hydrophobic polymers, and water have recently been used as precursors for interpenetrating polymer networks with unusual properties. However, the phase behavior of such ternary mixtures has not been studied. Here we mix the amphiphilic monomer acrylic acid, the hydrophobic polymer poly(methyl methacrylate) and water. In the mixture, the hydrophobic polymer can form various morphologies, including solution, micelle, gel, and polymer glass. We interpret these findings by proposing that the hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups of the amphiphilic monomer enable it to function as a bridge. That is, the hydrophobic functional group binds to the hydrophobic polymer, and the hydrophilic functional group binds to water. This picture leads to a simple modification to the Flory-Huggins theory, which agrees well with our experimental data. Amphiphilic monomers offer a rich area for the development of materials of self-assembled structures with unusual properties.
Keywords: Phase separation; Amphiphilic molecules; Self-assembly; Flory-Huggins; Polymer network