Polymer thin films have numerous technical applications as functional coatings, the most prominent example being PMMA coatings for lithography of integrated circuits and micromechanical devices. Polymer blends and block copolymers can be tailored for specific mechanical, optical, electric, and chemical properties. For instance, functional surfaces have been created by means of polymer blend and...

Poly(p-phenylene terephtalamide) (PPTA), a high-performance polymer with high modulus and good hydrophilicity, is often used as a reinforced material. However, due to its high crystallity, micro-phase separation often occurs in the blends. In this paper, PPTA/poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) compatible blend solution was synthesized by in situ polycondensation. Blend ultra-filtration membrane w...

Abstract The hierarchical design approach provides various opportunities to adjust the structural performance of polymer materials. Electrospinning processing techniques give access molecular orientation as a parameter, which we consider here in view shape-memory actuation performance. aim this work is investigate how reversible strain $$\varepsilon^{\prime}_{{{\text{rev}}}}$$ <mml:math xmlns:m...

We report on an experimental study of the charge transfer dynamics in a P3HT : PCBM blend by means of a femtosecond fluorescence up-conversion technique. Using two-photon excitation we probe the exciton dynamics in P3HT and a P3HT : PCBM blend with a weight ratio of 1 : 1 at excitation densities of up to 6 × 1018 cm−3. In both samples we find strongly nonexponential decay traces compatible with...

A unique strategy for scavenging free radicals in situ on exposure to gamma irradiation in polyethylene (PE) nanocomposites is presented. Blends of ultra-high molecular weight PE and linear low-density PE (PEB) and their nanocomposites with graphene (GPEB) were prepared by melt mixing to develop materials for biomedical implants. The effect of gamma irradiation on the microstructure and mechani...

The controlled organization of nanoparticle (NP) constituents into superstructures of well-defined shape, composition and connectivity represents a continuing challenge in the development of novel hybrid materials for many technological applications. We show that the phase separation of polymer-tethered nanoparticles immersed in a chemically different polymer matrix provides an effective and sc...

Submitted for the MAR14 Meeting of The American Physical Society Improving the performance of All-Polymer Solar Cells YAN JIN, FEI YU, VIKRAM KUPPA, Univ of Cincinnati — We find that the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of photovoltaic devices based on conjugated polymer blends is dramatically improved by the addition of small quantities of pristine -unmodifiedgraphene in the active layer. The...