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Semicrystalline poly(vinyl ether)s with high and phototunable glass transition temperature: application for thermally stable and reworkable adhesives
Author(s) -
Ito Shotaro,
Akiyama Haruhisa,
Mori Miyuki,
Yoshida Masaru,
Kihara Hideyuki
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2642-4169
pISSN - 2642-4150
DOI - 10.1002/pol.20190153
Subject(s) - azobenzene , polymer chemistry , materials science , polymer , thermal stability , glass transition , polymerization , cationic polymerization , monomer , vinyl ether , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material
The photoinduced solid–liquid phase transition of azobenzene‐based polymers is an attractive method to synthesize stimuli‐responsive functional materials. As the structure–property relationships of such materials are not fully understood, a new class of polymer backbone, that is, poly(vinyl ether) (PVE), was studied for the development of azobenzene‐based polymers with high thermal stability. For this purpose, a series of azobenzene‐based PVEs with different monomer structures were synthesized using a Lewis acid catalyst‐based cationic polymerization method. Typical PVEs are viscous polymers with low glass‐transition temperatures ( T g 's). The flexibility of the polymer backbone improves with the use of alkylene spacers, changing the order of alignment of the mesogenic azobenzene moieties attached to the backbone, leading to high T g 's of the azobenzene‐based PVEs. One of the synthesized PVEs shows a high glass‐transition temperature of 94 °C, which is 14 °C higher compared to that of the corresponding polymethacrylate. Furthermore, the PVE exhibits photoinduced solid–liquid phase transition from the semicrystalline state. This phase transition material, with its high thermal stability, has the potential for broader applications, such as for the phototuning of adhesion. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 58 , 568–577