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Formation of Tough Films by Evaporation of Water from Dispersions of Elastomer Microspheres Crosslinked with Rotaxane Supramolecules
Author(s) -
Hiroshige Seina,
Kureha Takuma,
Aoki Daichi,
Sawada Jun,
Aoki Daisuke,
Takata Toshikazu,
Suzuki Daisuke
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201702077
Subject(s) - elastomer , materials science , polymerization , polystyrene , microsphere , evaporation , chemical engineering , polymer , rotaxane , polymer chemistry , solvent , nanotechnology , composite material , molecule , chemistry , organic chemistry , supramolecular chemistry , physics , engineering , thermodynamics
Compared to rigid microspheres that consist, for example, of polystyrene or silica, soft and deformable elastomer microspheres can be used to generate colorless transparent films upon evaporating the solvent from microsphere‐containing dispersions. To obtain tough films, a post‐polymerization reaction to crosslink the microspheres is usually necessary, which requires extra additives during the drying process. This restriction renders this film‐formation technology complex and rather unsuitable for applications in which impurities are undesirable. In the present study, it is demonstrated that tough elastomer microspheres that are crosslinked with rotaxanes can form tough bulk films upon evaporation of water from microsphere dispersions, so that post‐polymerization reactions are not required. The results of this study should thus lead to new applications including coatings for biomaterials that need complete removal of all impurities from the materials prior to use.