Formation mechanism of micro-flows in aqueous poly(ethylene oxide) droplets on a substrate at different temperatures

The drying of aqueous poly（ethylene oxide） （PEO） droplet on a substrate at different temperatures was studied. It was found that the contact line receded when the substrate was at a temperature above 60 ℃. Different nucleation behavior and surface profiles of PEO films were found in different droplets drying processes. The rheological properties of aqueous PEO solutions were studied to understand the mechanism of contact line recession and micro-flow in drying aqueous PEO droplets. It was found that at low temperature, the contact line was static because of great viscous stress; while at high temperature, it receded because of great Marangoni force and the decrease of viscous stress. It was indicated that Marangoni convection was inhibited by the outward capillary flow and viscous stress at low temperature, whereas it became dominant at high temperature. Two types of mechanism for surface profiles and nucleation of PEO film from drying droplets are proposed, providing a theoretical guide for polymer solution application in oil and gas foam flooding technology.

Novel sandwich structured glass fiber Cloth/Poly(ethylene oxide)-MXene composite electrolyte

Recently,poly(ethylene oxide)(PEO)-based solid polymer electrolytes have been attracting great attention,and efforts are currently underway to develop PEO-based composite electrolytes for next generation high performance all-solid-state lithium metal batteries.In this article,a novel sandwich structured solid-state PEO composite electrolyte is developed for high performance all-solid-state lithium metal batteries.The PEO-based composite electrolyte is fabricated by hot-pressing PEO,LiTFSI and Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x) MXene nanosheets into glass fiber cloth(GFC).The as-prepared GFC@PEO-MXene electrolyte shows high mechanical properties,good electrochemical stability,and high lithium-ion migration number,which indicates an obvious synergistic effect from the microscale GFC and the nanoscale MXene.Such as,the GFC@PEO-1 wt%MXene electrolyte shows a high tensile strength of 43.43 MPa and an impressive Young's modulus of 496 MPa,which are increased by 1205%and 6048%over those of PEO.Meanwhile,the ionic conductivity of GFC@PEO-1 wt%MXene at 60℃ reaches 5.01×10^(-2) S m^(-1),which is increased by around 200%compared with that of GFC@PEO electrolyte.In addition,the Li/Li symmetric battery based on GFC@PEO-1 wt%MXene electrolyte shows an excellent cycling stability over 800 h(0.3 mA cm^(-2),0.3 mAh cm^(-2)),which is obviously longer than that based on PEO and GFC@PEO electrolytes due to the better compatibility of GFC@PEO-1 wt%MXene electrolyte with Li anode.Furthermore,the solid-state Li/LiFePO_(4) battery with GFC@PEO-1 wt%MXene as electrolyte demonstrates a high capacity of 110.2–166.1 mAh g^(-1) in a wide temperature range of 25–60C,and an excellent capacity retention rate.The developed sandwich structured GFC@PEO-1 wt%MXene electrolyte with the excellent overall performance is promising for next generation high performance all-solid-state lithium metal batteries.

Laminar Composite Solid Electrolyte with Poly(Ethylene Oxide)-Threaded Metal-Organic Framework Nanosheets for High-Performance All-Solid-State Lithium Battery

Developing laminar composite solid electrolyte with ultrathin thickness and continuous conduction channels in vertical direction holds great promise for all-solid-state lithium batteries.Herein,a thin,laminar solid electrolyte is synthesized by filtrating–NH 2 functionalized metal-organic framework nanosheets and then being threaded with poly(ethylene oxide)chains induced by the hydrogen-bonding interaction from–NH_(2) groups.It is demonstrated that the threaded poly(ethylene oxide)chains lock the adjacent metal-organic framework nanosheets,giving highly enhanced structural stability(Young’s modulus,1.3 GPa)to 7.5-μm-thick laminar composite solid electrolyte.Importantly,these poly(ethylene oxide)chains with stretching structure serve as continuous conduction pathways along the chains in pores.It makes the non-conduction laminar metal-organic framework electrolyte highly conductive:3.97×10^(−5) S cm^(−1) at 25℃,which is even over 25 times higher than that of pure poly(ethylene oxide)electrolyte.The assembled lithium cell,thus,acquires superior cycling stability,initial discharge capacity(148 mAh g^(−1) at 0.5 C and 60℃),and retention(94% after 150 cycles).Besides,the pore size of nanosheet is tailored(24.5–40.9˚A)to evaluate the mechanisms of chain conformation and ion transport in confined space.It shows that the confined pore only with proper size could facilitate the stretching of poly(ethylene oxide)chains,and meanwhile inhibit their disorder degree.Specifically,the pore size of 33.8˚A shows optimized confinement effect with trans-poly(ethylene oxide)and cis-poly(ethylene oxide)conformation,which offers great significance in ion conduction.Our design of poly(ethylene oxide)-threaded architecture provides a platform and paves a way to the rational design of next-generation high-performance porous electrolytes.

SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF AMPHIPHILIC GRAFT COPOLYMER CONTAINING MICROPHASE SEPARATED AND LONG POLY(ETHYLENE OXIDE) SIDE CHAIN STRUCTURES

Acryloyl terminated Poly (ethyleneoxide)macromonomers (PEO-A) with different PEO chain lengths have been prepared by deactivation of PEO alkoxide with acryloyl chloride. A new kind of amphiphilic polystyrene-g-poly (ethylene oxide)graft copolymer containing both microphase separated and PEO side chain structures has been synthesized from radical copolymerization of PEO-A macromonomer with styrene. After careful purification by a newly-developed method called 'selective dissolution', the well-defined structure of the purified copolymers was confirmed by IR, ~1H-NMR and GPC. Various experimental parameters controlling the copolymerization were studied in detail. The results indicated that the feed ratio of styrene to macromonomer(S/M) was the most important determining factor for the composition of the copolymers. A detailed 'comb- model' was proposed to describe the molecular structure of the graft copolymers. Finally, this amphiphilic graft copolymers may readily form microphase separated structures as clearly indicated by transmission electron microscopy.

Analysis of residual crosslinking agent content in UV cross-linked poly(ethylene oxide) hydrogels for dermatological application by gas chromatography

Acrylates have been widely used in the synthesis of pharmaceutical polymers. The quantitation of residual acrylate monomers is vital as they are strong irritants and allergens, but after polymerization, are relatively inert, causing no irritation and allergies. Poly(ethylene oxide)(PEO) hydrogels were prepared using pentaerythritol tetra-acrylate(PETRA) as UV crosslinking agent. A simple, accurate, and robust quantitation method was developed based on gas chromatographic techniques(GC), which is suitable for routine analysis of residual PETRA monomers in these hydrogels. Unreacted PETRA was initially identified using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry(GC–MS). The quantitation of analyte was performed and validated using gas chromatography equipped with a flame ionization detector(GC–FID). A linear relationship was obtained over the range of 0.0002%–0.0450%(m/m) with a correlation coefficient(r2)greater than 0.99. The recovery( 4 90%), intra-day precision(%RSD o 0.67), inter-day precision(%RSD o2.5%), and robustness(%RSD o1.62%) of the method were within the acceptable values. The limit of detection(LOD) and limit of quantitation(LOQ) were 0.0001%(m/m) and 0.0002%(m/m), respectively.This assay provides a simple and quick way of screening for residual acrylate monomer in hydrogels.

Enhanced Electrochemical Performance of Poly(ethylene oxide)Composite Polymer Electrolyte via Incorporating Lithiated Covalent Organic Framework

The lithiated covalent organic framework(named TpPa-SO_(3) Li),which was prepared by a mild chemical lithiation strategy,was introduced in poly(ethylene oxide)(PEO)to produce the composite polymer electrolytes(CPEs).Li-ion can transfer along the PEO chain or across the layer of TpPa-SO_(3) Li within the nanochannels,resulting in a high Li-ion conductivity of3.01×10^(-4)S/cm at 60℃.When the CPE with 0.75 wt.%TpPa-SO_(3) Li was used in the LiFePO_(4)‖Li solid-state battery,the cell delivered a stable capacity of 125 mA·h/g after 250 cycles at 0.5 C,60℃.In comparison,the cell using the CPE without TpPa-SO_(3) Li exhibited a capacity of only 118 mA·h/g.

Advances in high carbon dioxide separation performance of poly(ethylene oxide)-based membranes

Poly(ethylene-oxide)(PEO)-based membranes have attracted much attention recently for CO2 separation because CO2 is highly soluble into PEO and shows high selectivity over other gases such as CH4 and N2.Unfortunately,those membranes are not strong enough mechanically and highly crystalline,which hinders their broader applications for separation membranes.In this review discussions are made,as much in detail as possible,on the strategies to improve gas separation performance of PEO-based membranes.Some of techniques such as synthesis of graft copolymers that contain PEO,cross-linking of polymers and blending with long chains polymers contributed significantly to improvement of membrane.Incorporation of ionic liquids/nanoparticles has also been found effective.However,surface modification of nanoparticles has been done chemically or physically to enhance their compatibility with polymer matrix.As a result of all such efforts,an excellent performance,i.e.,CO2 permeability up to 200 Barrer,CO2/N2 selectivity up to 200 and CO2/CH4 selectivity up to 70,could be achieved.Another method is to introduce functional groups into PEO-based polymers which boosted CO2 permeability up to 200 Barrer with CO2/CH4 selectivity between 40 and 50.The CO2 permeability of PEO-based membranes increases,without much change in selectivity,when the length of ethylene oxide is increased.

Permeation Characteristics of Light Hydrocarbons Through Poly（amide-6-β-ethylene oxide） Multilayer Composite Membranes

In this paper, poly(amide-6-β-ethylene oxide) (PEBA1657) copolymer was used to prepare multilayer polyetherimide (PEI)/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)/PEBA1657/PDMS composite membranes by dip-coating method. Permeation behaviors of ethylene, ethane, propylene, propane, n-butane, methane and nitrogen through the multilayer composite membranes were investigated over a range of operating temperature and pressure. The permeances of light hydrocarbons through PEI/PDMS/PEBA1657/PDMS composite membranes increase with their increasing condensability, and the olefins are more permeable than their corresponding paraffins. For light hydrocarbons, the gas permeances increase significantly as temperature increasing. When the transmembrane pressure difference increases, the gas permeance increases moderately due to plasticization effect, while their apparent activation energies for permeation decrease.

Polyvinyl acetate/poly(amide-12-b-ethylene oxide) blend membranes for carbon dioxide separation

In this paper,blend membranes from polyvinyl acetate(PVAc)and block copolymer poly(amide-12-b-ethylene oxide)(Pebax1074)are prepared by solution casting and solvent evaporation method.Although they are homogeneous on a macro-scale,the observations from DSC and SEM indicate micro-phase separation for PVAc/Pebax1074 blend membranes.With the increase of Pebax1074 content,gas permeabilities of CO2,H2,N2and CH4all increase greatly.PVAc/Pebax1074 blend membranes with high PVAc content are appropriate for CO2/CH4separation.The temperature dependence of gas permeability is divided into rubbery region and glassy region.The activation energies of permeation in rubbery region are smaller than those in glassy region,and they all decrease with increasing Pebax1074 content.For N2,H2and CH4,their gas permeation properties are mainly influenced by the dual-mode sorption and hydrostatic pressure effect.But for CO2,its permeability increases with the increase of pressure due to CO2-induced plasticization effect,which is more obvious for PVAc/Pebax1074 blend membranes with high PVAc content.

Poly(amide-6-b-ethylene oxide)/[Bmim][Tf2N] blend membranes for carbon dioxide separation

Poly（amide-6-b-ethylene oxide）（Pebax1657）/1-butyl-3-methylimidazo-lium bis[trifluoromethyl）sulfonyl]-imide（[Bmim][Tf2N]） blend membranes with different [Bmim][Tf2N] contents were prepared via solution casting and solvent evaporation method. The permeation properties of the blend membranes for CO2, N2,CH4 and H2 were studied, and the physical properties were characterized by differential scanning calorimeter（DSC） and X-ray diffraction（XRD）. Results showed that [Bmim][Tf2N] was dispersed as amorphous phase in the blend membranes, which caused the decrease of Tg（PE） and crystallinity（PA）. With the addition of [Bmim][Tf2N], the CO2 permeability increased and reached up to approximately 286 Barrer at 40 wt%[Bmim][Tf2N], which was nearly double that of pristine Pebax1657 membrane. The increase of CO2 permeability may be attributed to high intrinsic permeability of [Bmim][Tf2N], the increase of fractional free of volume（FFV） and plasticization effect. However, the CO2 permeability reduced firstly when the [Bmim][Tf2N]content was below 10 wt%, which may be due to that the small ions of [Bmim][Tf2N] in the gap of polymer chain inhibited the flexibility of polymer chain; the interaction between Pebax1657 and [Bmim][Tf2N]decreased the content of EO units available for CO2 transport and led to a more compact structure. For Pebax1657/[Bmim][Tf2N] blend membranes, the permeabilities of N2, H2 and CH4decreased with the increase of feed pressure due to the hydrostatic pressure effect, while CO2 permeability increased with the increase of feed pressure for that the CO2-induced plasticization effect was stronger than hydrostatic pressure effect.

H_2/CO_2 Gas Transport Performance in Poly(Ethylene Oxide) Reverse-selective Membrane with Star-like Structures

A series of poly(ethylene oxide)(PEO) membranes with star-like structures for CO_2/H_2 separation were prepared by the photo-polymerization method. The structure of PEO membrane was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR). The thermal property and inter-segmental distance of polymer chain were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and wide-angle X-ray diffraction, respectively. The density was determined by hydrostatic weighing method. The gas permeability, solubility and diffusivity of CO_2 and H_2 were investigated in the star-like PEO membranes. The relationship between gas permeation performances and physical properties was also discussed. The membrane exhibits outstanding CO_2 permeability(about 9.7×10^(-11) cm^3(STP) cm/cm^2/s/Pa) and CO_2/H_2 selectivity(about 11) compared with other membranes.

Electrical Percolation of Carbon Black Filled Poly (ethylene oxide)Composites in Relation to the Matrix Morphology

The present work studies the electrical conduction performance of carbon black (CB)filled poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) composites. The addition of CB leads to reduced matrixcrystallinity as the fillers which are partly situated inside the lamellae and hinder the growth of PEOcrystallites. As a result, the electrical percolation behavior is related with the matrix morphology.

Amphiphilic Polyphosphazene with Poly(ethylene oxide) Side Chains Prepared through the Decker-Forster Reaction

Poly （4- methylphenoxyphosphnzene ） -graft-poly （ ethylene oxide ） （ PPZ-g- PEO ）, a novel amphiphilie grafting polymer was prepared via the Decker-Forster reaction. It is found that the graft efficiency increased with extension of reaction time. Low molecular weight of poly （ ethylene oxide ） favored the grafting reaction. The grafted polymer has two different glass transition temperatures（ Tg） with those of pure poly（ 4-methyl- phenoxy-phopsphazene ） and PEO. The emulsifying ability of grafted polymer was studied with benzene-water mixtare. The emulsifying volumes increased with the decreasing of PEO＇ s molecular weight. The contact angle of film forming from grafted polymer decreased after introduction of PEO grafting chain.

CONDUCTING BLENDS OF POLY (2-VINYL PYRIDINE) AND POLYETHYLENE OXIDE WITH HIGH MOLECULAR WEIGHT

Ionic, electronic and mixed (ionic-electronic) conductivities of blends of poly(2-vinyl pyridine) (P2VP) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) with high molecular weight after doped with LiClO4, TCNQ or LiClO4 and TCNQ were investigated. Effects of LiClO4 and TCNQ concentrations on the conductivity of PEO/P2VP/LiClO4 or TCNQ blend were studied. The ionic conductivity of PEO/P2VP/LiClO4 blend increases with increasing PEO content. At a Li/ethylene bride molar ratio of 0.10 and a TCNQ/2-vinyl pyridine molar ratio of 0.5, the mixed conductivity of PEO/P2VP/LiClO4/TCNQ is higher than the total of ionic conductivity of PEO/P2VP/LiClO4 and electronic conductivity of PEO/P2VP/TCNQ when the weight ratio of PEO and P2VP is 6/4 or 5/5. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) on the broken cross-section of the PEO/P2VP/LiClO4 blend and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results show that LiClO4 could act as a compatibilizer in the blend.

The Synthesis of Poly(ethylene oxide)-Block-Polybutylacrylate

Poly(ethylene oxide) containing azogroups(pre PEO) was prepared by reacting azoisobutyronitrile (AIBN) with poly( ethylene glycol ) (PEG). The molecular weight of pre PEO was depended on the reaction time, the ratio of PEG to AIBN and the molecular weight of PEG. Pre PEO decomposed in the presence of butylacrylate (BA) monomer to form poly ethylene oxide block butylacrylate copolymers(PEO b PBA). The molecular weights of PEO b PBA and the homopolymer of PBA were proportional to the ratio of BA to pre PEO. The purified block copolymers were charactherized using IR, 1H NMR and GPC.

Synthesis, Purification and Characterization of Amphiphilic and Microphase Separated Graft Copolymer Polystyrene-g-Poly(ethylene oxide)

The present paper covers the poly (ethylene oxide) macromer with vinyl benzyl terminal group (PEO-VB) prepared by deactivation of the alkoxide function of mono-functional 'living' PEO chains with vinyl benzyl chloride (VBC). The obtained macromers were subjected to careful purification and detailed characterization. A new kind of amphiphilic polystyrene-g-poly(ethylene oxide) (PS-g-PEO) with both mi-crophase separated and PEO side chains was synthesized from radical copolymerization of PEO-VB macromer with styrene monomer. An improved purification method, referred as 'selective dissolvation', was established for the isolation of graft copolymers from the grafting products, and the purity and yield of the purified copolymers were satisfactory. The well-defined structure of the purified copolymers was confirmed by IR, 1H NMR and GPC. The bulk composition of the graft copolymers was determined by a well-established first derivative UV spectrometry. Various experimental parameters controlling the copolymerization were also studied. The results indicate that the feed ratio of macromer to styrene (M/S) was the most important factor in determining the composition of the copolymers. Thus a series of PS-g-PEO with a wide range of bulk compositions were obtained simply by adjusting the value of M/S. As clearly indicated by transmission electron microscopy, this amphiphilic graft copolymers may readily form microphase separated structures.

ULTRASONIC BEHAVIOR OF EPOXY RESINS/POLY (ETHYLENE OXIDE) BLENDS CURED WITH PHTHALIC ANHYDRIDE

By means of ultrasonic attenuation apparatus, the ultrasonic velocity and attenuation ofanhydride-cured epoxy resins (EP)/poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) blends were measured on thebasis of pulse-echo method. It was found that the sonic velocity of the blends decreased as thetemperature increased, but attenuation coefficient increased and possessed a peak value. Largervelocity and smaller attenuation coefficient(α)can be obtained from perfect crosslinking networkstructures of pure DGEBA cured with phthalic anhydride(PA). As for cured DGEBA/PEO blendsystems,sonic velocity decreased as a function of PEO concentration,but attenuation coefficient(α) increased.

EFFECTS OF ω-ACRYLOYL POLY (ETHYLENE OXIDE) MACROMONOMER ON EMULSIFIER-FREE EMULSI0N COPOLYMERIZATION OF METHYL METHACRYLATE AND n-BUTYL ACRYLATE

Well-defined nonionic hydrophilic ω-acryloyl poly(ethylene oxide) macro-monomer (PEO-A) has been prepared by living anionic polymerization of ethylene oxidewith diphenyl methyl potassium as the initiator and acryloyl chloride as the reaction termi-nating agent. The polymer was characterized by FTIR and SEC. The emulsifier-free emul-sion polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and n-butyl acrylate (BA) containingvarious concentrations of PEO-A was studied. In all cases stable emulsion coplymerizationsof MMA and BA were obtained. The stabilizing effect was found to be dependent on themolecular weight and the feed amount of the macromonomer.

Exfoliation of poly(ethylene glycol)-intercalated graphite oxide composite in water without sonication

A novel method for exfoliating graphite oxide(GrO)was implemented through the mass water absorption of a GrO–poly(ethylene glycol)(GrO–PEG)composite.The GrO–PEG composite was prepared by intercalating PEG into the lamellae of GrO,and the variation of the basal spacing was measured by X-ray diffraction analysis.The yield of graphene was measured with an ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometer,and the properties of graphene oxide(GO)were characterized by atomic force microscopy,transmission electron microscopy(TEM),Raman spectrometry,and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.Increasing intercalation time was found to improve the yield of GO,whereas increasing the PEG molecular weight had the opposite effect.The GO sheets produced from the intercalation–absorption–exfoliation process were found to be a four-layer structure.TEM and Raman analyses indicate that the graphitized structure and oxygen groups of GO were preserved during the exfoliation process.Most importantly,the results show that good-quality GO could be prepared via a mild method involving water absorption of a GrO–PEG composite.

The interphasial degradation of 4.2 V-class poly(ethylene oxide)-based solid batteries beyond electrochemical voltage limit

Solid-state polymer electrolytes(SPEs)have attracted increasing attention due to good interfacial contact,light weight,and easy manufacturing.However,the practical application of SPEs such as the most widely studied poly(ethylene oxide)(PEO)in high-energy solid polymer batteries is still challenging,and the reasons are yet elusive.Here,it is found that the mismatch between PEO and 4.2 V-class cathodes is beyond the limited electrochemical window of PEO in the solid Li Ni_(1/3)Mn_(1/3)Co_(1/3)O_(2)(NMC)-PEO batteries.The initial oxidation of PEO initiates remarkable surface reconstruction of NMC grains in solid batteries that are different from the situation in liquid electrolytes.Well-aligned nanovoids are observed in NMC grains during the diffusion of surface reconstruction layers towards the bulk in solid batteries.The substantial interphasial degradation,therefore,blocks smooth Li+transport across the NMC-PEO interface and causes performance degradation.A thin yet effective Li F-containing protection layer on NMC can effectively stabilize the NMC-PEO interface with a greatly improved lifespan of NMC|PEO|Li batteries.This work deepens the understanding of degradations in high-voltage solid-state polymer batteries.