Achieving efficient and large-scale preparation of mesophase-nylon 11 film by random copolymerization of nylon 11 and nylon 611

Nylon 11 is a promising functional material for future electronic devices or energy storage systems. To utilize nylon-11 in these applications, it is important to control the formation of metastable crystal phases such as the γ-phase and δ′-phase. However, controlling the formation of the applicable metastable crystal phase by the processing method is complicated and inefficient. Herein, we report a novel nylon 11-based copolymer synthesized by random copolymerization of nylon 11 and nylon 611, which can directly obtain a metastable crystal phase by simple hot-pressing. Meanwhile, high heterogeneity can stabilize the defective mesophase. Non-isothermal crystallization analysis showed that the crystallization rate decreased gradually with the increase of chemical heterogeneity in the nylon random copolymer. The resulting metastable crystal phase of the nylon copolymer is controlled by crystallization kinetics. This study clarified the mechanism of controlling the crystal structure by copolymerization of nylon 11 and nylon 611, moreover, it is promising to inspire novel nylon copolymers.