Thermodynamics of Poly(dimethylsiloxane)/Poly(ethylmethylsiloxane) (PDMS/PEMS) Blends in the Presence of High-Pressure CO2

Welding immiscible polymers with a supercritical fluid

Polymer adhesion between two immiscible polymers is usually poor because there is little interpenetration of one polymer into the other at the interface. Increasing the width of the interfacial zone can enhance adhesion and mechanical properties. In principle, this can be accomplished by exposing heterogeneous polymer materials to a high-pressure fluid. The fluid can act as a common solvent and promote interpenetration. It also increases chain mobility at the interface, which helps to promote "welding" of the two polymers. A combination of the gradient theory of inhomogeneous systems and the Sanchez-Lacombe equation of state was used to investigate this phenomenon, especially the effect of the high compressibility of supercritical (SC) fluid on the compatibilization of two incompatible polymers. We calculate the interfacial density profile, interfacial thickness, and interfacial tension between the two polymers with and without the SC fluid. We find that the interfacial tension is decreased and the interfacial thickness is increased with high-pressure SC fluid for the ternary systems we have investigated. As the critical point is approached and the SC compressibility becomes large, no enhancement or deleterious effects on compatibilization were observed.

Formation of dispersed nanostructures from poly(ferrocenyldimethylsilane-b-dimethylsiloxane) nanotubes upon exposure to supercritical carbon dioxide

While incompatible block copolymers commonly assemble into several established classical or complex morphologies, highly asymmetric poly(ferrocenyldimethylsilane-b-dimethylsiloxane) (PFS-b-PDMS) diblock copolymers can also self-organize into high-aspect-ratio nanotubes with PDMS corona in the presence of PDMS-selective organic solvents. Exposure of these nanotubes on a carbon substrate to supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2), also a PDMS-selective solvent, appears to promote partial dissolution of the copolymer molecules. At sufficiently high copolymer concentrations, the dissolved molecules subsequently re-organize within the scCO2 environment to form new copolymer nanostructures that redeposit on the substrate upon scCO2 depressurization. Transmission electron microscopy reveals that micelles form under all the conditions examined here, whereas nanotubes coalesce and vesicles develop only at relatively high temperatures. The extent to which the copolymer nanotubes dissolve and the size distribution of the replacement micelles are sensitive to exposure conditions. These results suggest that the phase behavior of PFS-b-PDMS diblock copolymers in scCO2 may be remarkably rich and easily tunable.