1
|
Zhang J, Lei J, Feng P, Floudas G, Zhang G, Zhou J. Capillary filling of star polymer melts in nanopores. J Chem Phys 2024; 160:054903. [PMID: 38341697 DOI: 10.1063/5.0188955] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2023] [Accepted: 01/15/2024] [Indexed: 02/13/2024] Open
Abstract
The topology of a polymer profoundly influences its behavior. However, its effect on imbibition dynamics remains poorly understood. In the present work, capillary filling (during imbibition and following full imbibition) of star polymer melts was investigated by molecular dynamics simulations with a coarse-grained model. The reversal of imbibition dynamics observed for linear-chain systems was also present for star polymers. Star polymers with short arms penetrate slower than the prediction of the Lucas-Washburn equation, while systems with long arms penetrate faster. The radius of gyration increases during confined flow, indicating the orientation and disentanglement of arms. In addition, the higher the functionality of the star polymer, the more entanglement points are retained. Besides, a stiff region near the core segments of the stars is observed, which increases in size with functionality. The proportion of different configurations of the arms (e.g., loops, trains, tails) changes dramatically with the arm length and degree of confinement but is only influenced by the functionality when the arms are short. Following full imbibition, the different decay rates of the self-correlation function of the core-to-end vector illustrate that arms take a longer time to reach the equilibrium state as the functionality, arm length, and degree of confinement increase, in agreement with recent experimental findings. Furthermore, the star topology induces a stronger effect of adsorption and friction, which becomes more pronounced with increasing functionality.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jianwei Zhang
- Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
| | - Jinyu Lei
- Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
| | - Pu Feng
- School of Civil Engineering and Transportation, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
| | - George Floudas
- Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, 55128 Mainz, Germany
- Department of Physics, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
- Institute of Materials Science and Computing, University Research Center of Ioannina (URCI), 45110 Ioannina, Greece
| | - Guangzhao Zhang
- Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
| | - Jiajia Zhou
- South China Advanced Institute for Soft Matter Science and Technology, School of Emergent Soft Matter, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional and Intelligent Hybrid Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Shanbhag S, Wang Z. Molecular Simulation of Tracer Diffusion and Self-Diffusion in Entangled Polymers. Macromolecules 2020. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.0c00680] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sachin Shanbhag
- Department of Scientific Computing, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, United States
| | - Zuowei Wang
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AX, U.K
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Hall R, Desai PS, Kang BG, Huang Q, Lee S, Chang T, Venerus DC, Mays J, Ntetsikas K, Polymeropoulos G, Hadjichristidis N, Larson RG. Assessing the Range of Validity of Current Tube Models through Analysis of a Comprehensive Set of Star–Linear 1,4-Polybutadiene Polymer Blends. Macromolecules 2019. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.9b00642] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Beom-Goo Kang
- Department of Chemistry, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, United States
| | | | - Sanghoon Lee
- Department of Chemistry and Division of Advanced Materials Science, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 37673, Korea
| | - Taihyun Chang
- Department of Chemistry and Division of Advanced Materials Science, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 37673, Korea
| | - David C. Venerus
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Center for Molecular Study of Condensed Soft Matter, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois 60616, United States
| | - Jimmy Mays
- Department of Chemistry, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, United States
| | - Konstantinos Ntetsikas
- Physical Sciences and Engineering Division, KAUST Catalysis Center, Polymer Synthesis Laboratory, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955, Saudi Arabia
| | - George Polymeropoulos
- Physical Sciences and Engineering Division, KAUST Catalysis Center, Polymer Synthesis Laboratory, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955, Saudi Arabia
| | - Nikos Hadjichristidis
- Physical Sciences and Engineering Division, KAUST Catalysis Center, Polymer Synthesis Laboratory, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955, Saudi Arabia
| | | |
Collapse
|
4
|
Shanbhag S. Mathematical foundations of an ultra coarse-grained slip link model. J Chem Phys 2019; 151:044903. [PMID: 31370523 DOI: 10.1063/1.5111032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The master equation underlying ecoSLM, an ultra-coarse-grained slip link model, is presented. In the absence of constraint release, the equilibrium and dynamic properties of the discrete master equation for large chains are found to be virtually identical to the continuous Fokker-Planck equation for Brownian particles diffusing in a potential. A single-chain microscopic model with repulsion between adjacent slip links is described. It is approximately consistent with the quadratic fluctuation potential used in ecoSLM. Mapping ecoSLM with fine-grained slip link models or experiments requires specification of an effective friction as a function of molecular weight. Methods to accomplish this are discussed. Collectively, the mathematical framework described provides an interface for fine-grained slip link models to potentially use ecoSLM for extreme coarse-graining.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sachin Shanbhag
- Department of Scientific Computing, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, USA
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Feng L, Gao P, Guo H. Retardation on Blending in the Entangled Binary Blends of Linear Polyethylene: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study. Macromolecules 2019. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.9b00047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Lukun Feng
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Joint Laboratory of Polymer Sciences and Materials, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- University of
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Peiyuan Gao
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Joint Laboratory of Polymer Sciences and Materials, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- University of
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Hongxia Guo
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Joint Laboratory of Polymer Sciences and Materials, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- University of
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Affiliation(s)
- Sachin Shanbhag
- Department of Scientific Computing, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306-4120, United States
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Cao J, Wang Z, Likhtman AE. Determining Tube Theory Parameters by Slip-Spring Model Simulations of Entangled Star Polymers in Fixed Networks. Polymers (Basel) 2019; 11:E496. [PMID: 30960480 PMCID: PMC6473678 DOI: 10.3390/polym11030496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2019] [Revised: 03/08/2019] [Accepted: 03/11/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Dynamical properties of branched polymer melts are determined by the polymer molecular weights and architectures containing junction points. Relaxation of entangled symmetric star polymers proceeds via arm-retraction and constraint release (CR). In this work, we investigate arm-retraction dynamics in the framework of a single-chain slip-spring model without CR effect where entanglements are treated as binary contacts, conveniently modeled as virtual "slip-links", each involving two neighboring strands. The model systems are analogous to isolated star polymers confined in a permanent network or a melt of very long linear polymers. We find that the distributions of the effective primitive path lengths are Gaussian, from which the entanglement molecular weight N e , a key tube theory parameter, can be extracted. The procured N e value is in good agreement with that obtained from mapping the middle monomer mean-square displacements of entangled linear chains in slip-spring model to the tube model prediction. Furthermore, the mean first-passage (FP) times of destruction of original tube segments by the retracting arm end are collected in simulations and examined quantitatively using a theory recently developed in our group for describing FP problems of one-dimensional Rouse chains with improbable extensions. The asymptotic values of N e as obtained from the static (primitive path length) and dynamical (FP time) analysis are consistent with each other. Additionally, we manage to determine the tube survival function of star arms μ ( t ) , or equivalently arm end-to-end vector relaxation function ϕ ( t ) , through the mean FP time spectrum τ ( s ) of the tube segments after careful consideration of the inner-most entanglements, which shows reasonably good agreement with experimental data on dielectric relaxation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jing Cao
- School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AX, UK.
| | - Zuowei Wang
- School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AX, UK.
| | - Alexei E Likhtman
- School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AX, UK
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Kirk J, Wang Z, Ilg P. Entanglement dynamics at flat surfaces: Investigations using multi-chain molecular dynamics and a single-chain slip-spring model. J Chem Phys 2019; 150:094906. [PMID: 30849883 DOI: 10.1063/1.5045301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The dynamics of an entangled polymer melt confined in a channel by parallel plates is investigated by Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations of a detailed, multi-chain model. A primitive path analysis predicts that the density of entanglements remains approximately constant throughout the gap and drops to lower values only in the immediate vicinity of the surface. Based on these observations, we propose a coarse-grained, single-chain slip-spring model with a uniform density of slip-spring anchors and slip-links. The slip-spring model is compared to the Kremer-Grest MD bead-spring model via equilibrium correlation functions of chain orientations. Reasonably good agreement between the single-chain model and the detailed multi-chain model is obtained for chain relaxation dynamics, both away from the surface and for chains whose center of mass positions are at a distance from the surface that is less than the bulk chain radius of gyration, without introducing any additional model parameters. Our results suggest that there is no considerable drop in topological interactions for chains in the vicinity of a single flat surface. We infer from the slip-spring model that the experimental plateau modulus of a confined polymer melt may be different to a corresponding unconfined system even if there is no drop in topological interactions for the confined case.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jack Kirk
- School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AX, United Kingdom
| | - Zuowei Wang
- School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AX, United Kingdom
| | - Patrick Ilg
- School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AX, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Sato T, Harada K, Taniguchi T. Multiscale Simulations of Flows of a Well-Entangled Polymer Melt in a Contraction–Expansion Channel. Macromolecules 2019. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.8b00649] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Takeshi Sato
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan
| | - Kohei Harada
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan
| | - Takashi Taniguchi
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan
- Department of Physics, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8578, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Kirk J, Kröger M, Ilg P. Surface Disentanglement and Slip in a Polymer Melt: A Molecular Dynamics Study. Macromolecules 2018. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.8b01865] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jack Kirk
- School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AX, U.K
| | - Martin Kröger
- Polymer Physics, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Patrick Ilg
- School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AX, U.K
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Korolkovas A. 5D Entanglement in Star Polymer Dynamics. ADVANCED THEORY AND SIMULATIONS 2018. [DOI: 10.1002/adts.201800078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Airidas Korolkovas
- Department of Physics and Astronomy; Uppsala University; Lägerhyddsvägen 1 752 37 Uppsala Sweden
- Large Scale Structures Group; Institut Laue-Langevin; 71 rue des Martyrs 38000 Grenoble France
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Zhu J, Likhtman AE, Wang Z. Arm retraction dynamics of entangled star polymers: A forward flux sampling method study. J Chem Phys 2017; 147:044907. [DOI: 10.1063/1.4995422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Jian Zhu
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AX, United Kingdom
| | - Alexei E. Likhtman
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AX, United Kingdom
| | - Zuowei Wang
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AX, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|