By taking the advantage of the unique amphiphilic structure of graphene oxide sheets (GOSs), we develop here a new and effective strategy for compatibilizing immiscible polymer blends. With the incorporation of only 0.5 wt % GOSs into immiscible polyamide/polyphenylene oxide (PA/PPO, 90/10) blends, the droplet diameter of the dispersed minor phase (PPO) is dramatically reduced by more than 1 or...

The effects of chain architecture on the miscibility of polymer blends were studied by means of Monte Carlo simulations. Using the bond fluctuation model on a simple cubic lattice, we were able to simulate symmetric linear/linear andsfor the first timesstar/star blends with a moderate number of arms. The simulations were made at a volume fraction of occupied lattice sites æ ) 0.5, which corresp...

The photo- and electroluminescent properties of single-layer two-component blends composed of one blue emitter polymer and one green emitter polymer were studied. The blue emitter, poly[(9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-alt-co-(9,9-di-{5'-pentanyl}-fluorenyl-2,7-diyl)] (PFOFPen), was used as the matrix, and the green emitter, poly[(9,9-dihexylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-alt-co-(bithiophene)] (F6T2), was ...

While the performance of polymer−polymer bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics (OPVs) is poor compared with polymer−fullerene OPVs, reducing or eliminating micrometer-scale phase separation in all-polymer OPVs may dramatically improve performance. Herein, we demonstrate that 2-ureido-4[1H]-pyrimidinone (UPy) quadruple hydrogen bonding interactions can be used to prevent micrometer-scale pha...

Cryogenic mechanical alloying (CMA) is investigated as a viable strategy by which to produce highly dispersed blends composed of thermoplastics and tire, thereby providing a potentially new route by which to recycle discarded tires. Morphological characterization of these blends by near-edge X-ray absorption ®ne structure (NEXAFS) microscopy demonstrates that, upon CMA, ground tire is highly di...

In this review, progress towards a fundamental understanding of the rheologymorphology relationship in immiscible polymer blends is discussed. The behaviour of biphasic polymer fluids, containing Newtonian components and subjected to simple shear flows is relatively well understood at present. The behaviour of these “simple” blends will be discussed first, as it serves as a reference for the ot...

We demonstrate that macromolecules in miscible polymer blends may behave as good, Theta, and poor polymeric solvents for each other. We construct a conceptual phase diagram, delineating the range of validity of the random-phase approximation, outside of which polymers contract or expand beyond their unperturbed dimensions, contrary to common assumptions. Remarkably, the correlation length for p...

c © 2003 by John von Neumann Institute for Computing Permission to make digital or hard copies of portions of this work for personal or classroom use is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise requires prior specific permission by the publisher ment...