Synthesis and Conductivity Studies of Poly(Methyl Methacrylate) (PMMA) by Co-Polymerization and Blending with Polyaniline (PANi)

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a lightweight insulating polymer that possesses good mechanical stability. On the other hand, polyaniline (PANi) is one of the most favorable conducting materials to be used, as it is easily synthesized, cost-effective, and has good conductivity. However, most organic solvents have restricted potential applications due to poor mechanical properties and dispersibility. Compared to PANi, PMMA has more outstanding physical and chemical properties, such as good dimensional stability and better molecular interactions between the monomers. To date, many research studies have focused on incorporating PANi into PMMA. In this review, the properties and suitability of PANi as a conducting material are briefly reviewed. The major parts of this paper reviewed different approaches to incorporating PANi into PMMA, as well as evaluating the modifications to improve its conductivity. Finally, the polymerization condition to prepare PMMA/PANi copolymer to improve its conductivity is also discussed.

A recyclable metal-free catalytic system for the cationic ring-opening polymerization of glycidol under ambient conditions

We developed a recyclable catalytic system for the metal-free cationic polymerization under ambient conditions, which provides mild and environmentally friendly polymerization condition as well as unique polymer topology.

The First Synthesis of Periodic and Alternating Glycopolymers by RAFT Polymerization: A Novel Synthetic Pathway for Glycosaminoglycan Mimics

This study concerned the controlled synthesis of periodic glycopolymers by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) copolymerization. To this end, maltose- and lactose-substituted vinyl ethers (MalVE and LacVE, respectively) and maltose-substituted maleimide (MalMI) were newly synthesized. RAFT copolymerization of MalVE and ethyl maleimide (EtMI) (monomer feed ratio: MalVE:EtMI = 1:1) afforded periodic glycopolymers (poly(MalVE-co-EtMI)) consisting of major parts of alternating structure (-(MalVE-EtMI)n-) and a small part of consecutive sequences of EtMI (–EtMI-EtMI-). Occurrence of the latter sequences was caused by the homopolymerizability of maleimide under the present polymerization condition, and the formation of the consecutive sequences of EtMI was successfully suppressed by varying the monomer feed ratio. RAFT copolymerization of LacVE and EtMI was also found to proceed and similarly yielded periodic glycopolymers (poly(LacVE-co-EtMI)). Moreover, RAFT copolymerization of LacVE and MalMI (monomer feed ratio: LacVE:MalMI = 1:1) was performed to give copolymers (poly(LacVE-co-MalMI)) having composition ratio of LacVE/MalMI ≈ 36/64. The resultant periodic glycopolymers poly(MalVE-co-EtMI) and poly(LacVE-co-EtMI) were subjected to lectin binding assay using concanavalin A and peanut agglutinin, exhibiting the glycocluster effect. Moreover, these glycopolymers obtained from the copolymerization of VE and MI were found to be non-cytotoxic.

Fast-Tunable Terahertz Metamaterial Absorber Based on Polymer Network Liquid Crystal

This paper introduces a tunable metamaterial absorber (MA) based on polymer network liquid crystal (PNLC) in the terahertz (THz) frequency band. Under the optimal polymerization condition, through electrical control of the orientation of the PNLC embedded in the frequency selective surface, the resonant frequency of the absorber can be tuned from 416.5 to 405.0 GHz, corresponding to fractional frequency bandwidth of 2.8%. The experimental results show that the proposed MA based on the PNLC offers an adjustment time of 10 ms and recovery time of 85 ms, which is significantly faster than the tunable metamaterial devices based on conventional nematic liquid crystal (LC).

The Mechanical Properties of Low Cis-Butadiene Modified HIPS

In this paper, low cis-butadiene (LCPB) is used in the process of polymerization of HIPS to study the influence of the polymerization condition on the particle size of rubber and mechanical property. It can be discovered from the study that the particle size was increased from 300nm to 500nm with the decreasing stir. The test of mechanical property shows that with the increase of content of rubber, elongation at break and impact strength on cantilever increase, but stretching strength decreases. On condition of 100 rpm, when the content of rubber increases from 3% to 9%, elongation at break increases from 21.9% to 25.0%, stretching strength decreases from 30.5 MPa to 23.9 MPa, and the cantilever impact strength increases from 5.4KJ/m2 to 9.3KJ/m2. On condition of 200 rpm, when the content of rubber increases from 3% to 9%, elongation at break increases from 21.4% to 29.1%, stretching strength decreases from 28.7 MPa to 20.8 MPa, and the cantilever impact strength increases from 5.2KJ/m2 to 8.1KJ/m2. Keywords: HIPS, mechanical properties, morphologies, T117 initiation

Preparation and Properties of Water-Based Solar-Reflective Coatings with Color Hollow Ceramic Microsphere

We have developed a system of solar reflective coatings that can reflect the sunlight then reduce the temperature of coated surface. The base layer material, fluorinated polystyrene-acrylate copolymers water-based emulsion was firstly prepared with hexafluoro butyl methacrylate(HFBA), styrene(St), butyl acrylate(BA), methyl methacrylate (MMA) by pre-emulsion copolymerization method. The effect on copolymerization and emulsion properties were investigated, and the polymerization condition was optimized. A hollow ceramic micro-sphere was used as the main reflective functional fillers in the system. We had a test on the practical heat-insulating properties on a prototype device. The result showed that temperature difference of the surface was reached as 6.5 °C. The new type of reflective coatings also has good stability and durability.