EurekAlert March 4, 2020
Accurate predictions of the temperature when embrittlement occurs is crucial to design conducting polymers that are used in next-generation flexible electronics. An international team of researchers (USA – Pennsylvania State University, Germany) found a way to measure glass transition temperatures by keeping track of the mechanical properties as embrittlement occurs, laying the foundation for understanding the relationship between the glass transition and structure. Follow-up studies then determined the glass transition for 32 different polymers by measuring mechanical properties as a function of temperature. They showed the simple relationship between the chemical structure and the glass transition making it possible to predict the embrittlement point from the chemical structure before they are synthesized for use in electronics…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Chemical structures of polymers with aromatic backbones and aliphatic side chains used in this work. Credit: Nature Communications volume 11, Article number: 893 (2020)