Issue 33, 2018

Crystallization of low molecular weight atactic polystyrene

Abstract

We observe and characterize the crystallization of atactic polystyrenes (PS) of nearly oligomeric Mw using atomic force microscopy. We find that the low Mw polystyrene exhibits observable crystals on the surface. The crystals appear to be a few nm thick and nm to microns wide. These crystals grow at all temperatures less than ∼290 K. Melting of crystals was probed over an extended temperature range, and some fraction of the crystals start to melt at 302 K, but some fraction persist to higher temperatures and do not exhibit complete melting until 343 K. The tacticity of the molecules is tested with NMR spectroscopy and found to be atactic. We suggest that the crystals form due simply to the distribution of isomerism along the molecule which necessarily leaves some fraction of the molecules with uniform stereoregularity. This natural crystallinity may be related to previously observed and not definitively explained gel formation in atactic PS (a-PS), as well as cluster formation. The measurements are compared with the theory by Semenov (Macromolecules, 2009, 42, 6761) and together suggest that such crystallinity is possible over a wide range of polymerization index (N), and is limited only by the vanishingly small volume fractions and sluggish growth.

Graphical abstract: Crystallization of low molecular weight atactic polystyrene

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
01 Mar 2018
Accepted
09 Jul 2018
First published
25 Jul 2018

Soft Matter, 2018,14, 6883-6891

Crystallization of low molecular weight atactic polystyrene

Y. Chai, A. N. Raegen, S. Zhu and J. A. Forrest, Soft Matter, 2018, 14, 6883 DOI: 10.1039/C8SM00424B

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