A blob model to parameterize polymer hole free volumes and solute diffusion.

A blob model to parameterize polymer hole free volumes and solute diffusion.

Zhu, Yan;Welle, Frank;Vitrac, Olivier;
Soft matter 2019
297
zhu2019asoft

Abstract

Solute diffusion in solid polymers has tremendous applications in packaging, reservoir, and biomedical technologies but remains poorly understood. Diffusion of non-entangled linear solutes with chemically identical patterns (blobs) deviates dramatically in polymers in the solid-state (αlin > 1, Macromolecules 2013, 46, 874) from their behaviors in the molten state (αlin = 1, Macromolecules, 2007, 40, 3970). This work uses the scale invariance of the diffusivities, D, of linear probes D(N·Mblob + Manchor,T,Tg) = N-αlin(T,Tg)D(Mblob + Manchor,T,Tg) comprising N identical blobs of mass Mblob and possibly one different terminal pattern (anchor of mass Manchor) to evaluate the amounts of hole-free volume in seven polymers (aliphatic, semi-aromatic and aromatic) over a broad range of temperatures (-70 K ≤ T - Tg ≤ 160 K). The new parameterization of the concept of hole-free volumes opens the application of the free-volume theory (FVT) developed by Vrentas and Duda to practically any polymer, regardless of the availability of free-volume parameters. The quality of the estimations was tested with various probes including n-alkanes, 1-alcohols, n-alkyl acetates, and n-alkylbenzene. The effects of enthalpic and entropic effects of the blobs and the anchor were analyzed and quantified. Blind validation of the reformulated FVT was tested successfully by predicting from first principles the diffusivities of water and toluene in amorphous polyethylene terephthalate from 4 °C to 180 °C and in various other polymers. The new blob model would open the rational design of additives with controlled diffusivities in thermoplastics.

Citation

ID: 63641
Ref Key: zhu2019asoft
Use this key to autocite in SciMatic or Thesis Manager

References

Blockchain Verification

Account:
NFT Contract Address:
0x95644003c57E6F55A65596E3D9Eac6813e3566dA
Article ID:
63641
Unique Identifier:
10.1039/c9sm01556f
Network:
Scimatic Chain (ID: 481)
Loading...
Blockchain Readiness Checklist
Authors
Abstract
Journal Name
Year
Title
5/5
Creates 1,000,000 NFT tokens for this article
Token Features:
  • ERC-1155 Standard NFT
  • 1 Million Supply per Article
  • Transferable via MetaMask
  • Permanent Blockchain Record
Blockchain QR Code
Scan with Saymatik Web3.0 Wallet

Saymatik Web3.0 Wallet