Cargando…

Bowls, vases and goblets—the microcrockery of polymer and nanocomposite morphology revealed by two-photon optical tomography

On the >1 µm scale the morphology of semicrystalline plastics like polyethylene or Nylon features spherulites, “shish-kebabs”, cylinddrites and other crystalline aggregates which strongly affect mechanical and other material properties. Current imaging techniques give only a 2D picture of these o...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Yang, Shu-Gui, Wei, Zhen-Zhen, Cseh, Liliana, Kazemi, Pantea, Zeng, Xiang-bing, Xie, Hui-Jie, Saba, Hina, Ungar, Goran
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8379155/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34417451
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25297-w
_version_ 1783740952366546944
author Yang, Shu-Gui
Wei, Zhen-Zhen
Cseh, Liliana
Kazemi, Pantea
Zeng, Xiang-bing
Xie, Hui-Jie
Saba, Hina
Ungar, Goran
author_facet Yang, Shu-Gui
Wei, Zhen-Zhen
Cseh, Liliana
Kazemi, Pantea
Zeng, Xiang-bing
Xie, Hui-Jie
Saba, Hina
Ungar, Goran
author_sort Yang, Shu-Gui
collection PubMed
description On the >1 µm scale the morphology of semicrystalline plastics like polyethylene or Nylon features spherulites, “shish-kebabs”, cylinddrites and other crystalline aggregates which strongly affect mechanical and other material properties. Current imaging techniques give only a 2D picture of these objects. Here we show how they can be visualized in 3D using fluorescent labels and confocal microscopy. As a result, we see spherulites in 3D, both in neat polymers and their nanocomposites, and observe how unevenly nanoparticles and other additives are distributed in the material. Images of i-polypropylene and biodegradable poly(lactic acid) reveal previously unsuspected morphologies such as “vases” and “goblets”, nonspherical “spherulites” and, unexpectedly, “shish-kebabs” grown from quiescent melt. Also surprisingly, in nanocomposite sheets spherulite nucleation is seen to be copied from one surface to another, mediated by crystallization-induced pressure drop and local melt-flow. These first results reveal unfamiliar modes of self-assembly in familiar plastics and open fresh perspectives on polymer microstructure.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8379155
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Nature Publishing Group UK
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-83791552021-09-22 Bowls, vases and goblets—the microcrockery of polymer and nanocomposite morphology revealed by two-photon optical tomography Yang, Shu-Gui Wei, Zhen-Zhen Cseh, Liliana Kazemi, Pantea Zeng, Xiang-bing Xie, Hui-Jie Saba, Hina Ungar, Goran Nat Commun Article On the >1 µm scale the morphology of semicrystalline plastics like polyethylene or Nylon features spherulites, “shish-kebabs”, cylinddrites and other crystalline aggregates which strongly affect mechanical and other material properties. Current imaging techniques give only a 2D picture of these objects. Here we show how they can be visualized in 3D using fluorescent labels and confocal microscopy. As a result, we see spherulites in 3D, both in neat polymers and their nanocomposites, and observe how unevenly nanoparticles and other additives are distributed in the material. Images of i-polypropylene and biodegradable poly(lactic acid) reveal previously unsuspected morphologies such as “vases” and “goblets”, nonspherical “spherulites” and, unexpectedly, “shish-kebabs” grown from quiescent melt. Also surprisingly, in nanocomposite sheets spherulite nucleation is seen to be copied from one surface to another, mediated by crystallization-induced pressure drop and local melt-flow. These first results reveal unfamiliar modes of self-assembly in familiar plastics and open fresh perspectives on polymer microstructure. Nature Publishing Group UK 2021-08-20 /pmc/articles/PMC8379155/ /pubmed/34417451 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25297-w Text en © The Author(s) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Article
Yang, Shu-Gui
Wei, Zhen-Zhen
Cseh, Liliana
Kazemi, Pantea
Zeng, Xiang-bing
Xie, Hui-Jie
Saba, Hina
Ungar, Goran
Bowls, vases and goblets—the microcrockery of polymer and nanocomposite morphology revealed by two-photon optical tomography
title Bowls, vases and goblets—the microcrockery of polymer and nanocomposite morphology revealed by two-photon optical tomography
title_full Bowls, vases and goblets—the microcrockery of polymer and nanocomposite morphology revealed by two-photon optical tomography
title_fullStr Bowls, vases and goblets—the microcrockery of polymer and nanocomposite morphology revealed by two-photon optical tomography
title_full_unstemmed Bowls, vases and goblets—the microcrockery of polymer and nanocomposite morphology revealed by two-photon optical tomography
title_short Bowls, vases and goblets—the microcrockery of polymer and nanocomposite morphology revealed by two-photon optical tomography
title_sort bowls, vases and goblets—the microcrockery of polymer and nanocomposite morphology revealed by two-photon optical tomography
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8379155/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34417451
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25297-w
work_keys_str_mv AT yangshugui bowlsvasesandgobletsthemicrocrockeryofpolymerandnanocompositemorphologyrevealedbytwophotonopticaltomography
AT weizhenzhen bowlsvasesandgobletsthemicrocrockeryofpolymerandnanocompositemorphologyrevealedbytwophotonopticaltomography
AT csehliliana bowlsvasesandgobletsthemicrocrockeryofpolymerandnanocompositemorphologyrevealedbytwophotonopticaltomography
AT kazemipantea bowlsvasesandgobletsthemicrocrockeryofpolymerandnanocompositemorphologyrevealedbytwophotonopticaltomography
AT zengxiangbing bowlsvasesandgobletsthemicrocrockeryofpolymerandnanocompositemorphologyrevealedbytwophotonopticaltomography
AT xiehuijie bowlsvasesandgobletsthemicrocrockeryofpolymerandnanocompositemorphologyrevealedbytwophotonopticaltomography
AT sabahina bowlsvasesandgobletsthemicrocrockeryofpolymerandnanocompositemorphologyrevealedbytwophotonopticaltomography
AT ungargoran bowlsvasesandgobletsthemicrocrockeryofpolymerandnanocompositemorphologyrevealedbytwophotonopticaltomography