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Polymers
Special Issues
Feature Papers in Smart and Functional Polymers
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Feature Papers in Smart and Functional Polymers

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Smart and Functional Polymers".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 March 2024) | Viewed by 4647

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Sixun Zheng

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Guest Editor
Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Interests: microphase separation and self-assembly in multicomponent polymer systems; synthesis and characterization of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) monomers and POSS-containing polymers; shape memory, self-healing, and reprocessing properties of polymers; dynamics of polymers in bulk by solid NMR spectroscopy (1H, 13C, 29Si, 15N and 2H NMR)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Xianhu Liu

grade E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Engineering Research Center for Advanced Polymer Processing Technology Key Laboratory of Material Processing and Mold, Ministry of Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450002, China
Interests: polymer processing technology; polymer composites; flow-induced crystallization; oil/water separation materials; polymer blend
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Guang Yang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Interests: medical materials; drug carrier; photoelectric materials; ordered nanomaterial assembly
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Topic Collection focuses on recent advances in smart and functional polymers. Smart polymers are synthetic polymers designed to mimic biopolymers with biological intelligence. This class of polymers can exhibit special functions in response to external conditions, which are similar to the biological intelligence observed in nature. Smart polymers have many important applications. Functional polymers are macromolecules with unique features and applications. Depending on their functional groups, macromolecular architectures and supramolecular structures, functional polymers find a variety of applications such as separation, electronic conductance, photo- and electro-luminescence, energy storage and conversion, tissue engineering, and control release. Smart and functional polymers are a fast-growing field in polymer science. In recent years, there have been many new and fascinating results in research in this field, and it is believed that this topic of research will become increasingly attractive. This Special Issue aims to reflect the advances in this field.  

This Topic Collection covers all the fields related to smart and functional polymers, but special attention will be given to the following aspects: 

  • Shape memory;
  • Self-healing;
  • Hydrogels;
  • Tissue engineering;
  • Stimuli-responsive polymer;
  • Soft robotics
  • Actuators;
  • Controlled release;
  • Polymer membrane;
  • Polyelectrolyte;
  • Photoluminescence;
  • Electroluminescence;
  • Photo-electric conversion;
  • Data record and storage;
  • Energy storage and conversion;
  • Tissue engineering;
  • Control release.

Prof. Dr. Sixun Zheng
Prof. Dr. Xianhu Liu
Prof. Dr. Guang Yang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • shape memory
  • self-healing
  • hydrogels
  • stimuli-responsive polymer
  • energy storage and conversion
  • polyelectrolyte

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 9191 KiB  
Article
Shaping in the Third Direction: Self-Assembly of Convex Colloidal Photonic Crystals on an Optical Fiber Tip by Hanging Drop Method
by Ion Sandu, Iulia Antohe, Claudiu Teodor Fleaca, Florian Dumitrache, Iuliana Urzica, Simona Brajnicov, Romulus Iagaru, Bogdan Alexandru Sava and Marius Dumitru
Polymers 2024, 16(1), 33; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16010033 (registering DOI) - 21 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1473
Abstract
High-quality convex colloidal photonic crystals can be grown on the tip of an optical fiber by self-assembly using the hanging drop method. They are convex-shaped, produce the diffraction of reflecting light with high efficiency (blazing colors), and have a high curvature. The convex [...] Read more.
High-quality convex colloidal photonic crystals can be grown on the tip of an optical fiber by self-assembly using the hanging drop method. They are convex-shaped, produce the diffraction of reflecting light with high efficiency (blazing colors), and have a high curvature. The convex colloidal crystals are easily detachable and, as free-standing objects, they are mechanically robust, allowing their manipulation and use as convex reflective diffraction devices in imaging spectrometers. Currently, the same characteristics are obtained by using gratings-based structures. The optical fiber/colloidal crystal interface is disordered; thus, no light diffraction can be registered. The ordering at this interface was highly increased by forming a polystyrene spacer on the optical fiber tip, which served as a self-assembly substrate for silica colloid, as a mechanical bond between the fiber and the crystal, and as a filler reservoir for an inverse-opal synthesis. The silica opal-like grown on the optical fiber tip can be transformed into a high-quality polystyrene (blazing colors) inverse-opal by using the polystyrene spacer as a filler. We found that the colloidal crystal axisymmetric self-assembles onto the optical fiber tip only if a maximum volume of the colloid drop is settled on a flat end of the polystyrene spacer. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers in Smart and Functional Polymers)
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15 pages, 5106 KiB  
Article
Preparation and Characterization of Light-Colored Polyimide Nanocomposite Films Derived from a Fluoro-Containing Semi-Alicyclic Polyimide Matrix and Colloidal Silica with Enhanced High-Temperature Dimensionally Stability
by Zhibin He, Xi Ren, Zhenzhong Wang, Zhen Pan, Yuexin Qi, Shujun Han, Haifeng Yu and Jingang Liu
Polymers 2023, 15(14), 3015; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15143015 - 12 Jul 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 879
Abstract
Light-colored and transparent polyimide (PI) films with good high-temperature dimensional stability are highly desired for advanced optoelectronic applications. However, in practice, the simultaneous achievement of good optical and thermal properties in one PI film is usually difficult due to the inter-conflicting molecular design [...] Read more.
Light-colored and transparent polyimide (PI) films with good high-temperature dimensional stability are highly desired for advanced optoelectronic applications. However, in practice, the simultaneous achievement of good optical and thermal properties in one PI film is usually difficult due to the inter-conflicting molecular design of the polymers. In the present work, a series of PI-SiO2 nanocomposite films (ABTFCPI) were developed based on the PI matrix derived from hydrogenated pyromellitic anhydride (HPMDA) and an aromatic diamine containing benzanilide and trifluoromethyl substituents in the structure, 2,2′-bis(trifluoromethyl)-4,4′-bis [4-(4-aminobenzamide)]biphenyl (ABTFMB). The inorganic SiO2 fillers were incorporated into the nanocomposite films in the form of colloidal nanoparticles dispersed in the good solvent of N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc) for the PI matrix. The derived ABTFCPI nanocomposite films showed good film-forming ability, flexible and tough nature, good optical transparency, and good thermal properties with loading amounts of SiO2 up to 30 wt% in the system. The ABTFCPI-30 film with a SiO2 content of 30 wt% in the film showed an optical transmittance of 79.6% at the wavelength of 400 nm (T400) with a thickness of 25 μm, yellow index (b*) of 2.15, and 5% weight loss temperatures (T5%) of 491 °C, which are all comparable to those the pristine ABTFCPI-0 matrix without filler (T400 = 81.8%; b* = 1.77; T5% = 492 °C). Meanwhile, the ABTFCPI-30 film exhibited obviously enhanced high-temperature dimensional stability with linear coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) of 25.4 × 10−6/K in the temperature range of 50 to 250 °C, which is much lower than that of the AMTFCPI-0 film (CTE = 32.7 × 10−6/K). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers in Smart and Functional Polymers)
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13 pages, 17703 KiB  
Article
Water-Resistant Thermoelectric Ionogel Enables Underwater Heat Harvesting
by Long Li, Huijing Li, Junjie Wei, Rui Li, Jiale Sun, Chuanzhuang Zhao and Tao Chen
Polymers 2023, 15(7), 1746; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15071746 - 31 Mar 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1815
Abstract
The energy crisis is one of the most critical and urgent problems in modern society; thus, harvesting energy from ubiquitous low-grade heat energy with thermoelectric (TE) materials has become an available strategy in sustainable development. Recently, emerging ionic TE materials have been widely [...] Read more.
The energy crisis is one of the most critical and urgent problems in modern society; thus, harvesting energy from ubiquitous low-grade heat energy with thermoelectric (TE) materials has become an available strategy in sustainable development. Recently, emerging ionic TE materials have been widely used to harvest low-grade heat energy, owing to their excellent performance in high ionic Seebeck coefficient, low thermal conductivity, and mechanical flexibility. However, the instability of ionic conductive materials in the underwater environment seriously suppresses underwater energy-harvesting, resulting in a waste of underwater low-grade heat energy. Herein, we developed a water-resistant TE ionogel (TEIG) with excellent long-term underwater stability utilizing a hydrophobic structure. Due to the hydrophobic polymer network and hydrophobic ionic liquid (IL), the TEIG exhibits high hydrophobicity and antiswelling capacity, which meets the requirement of environment stability for underwater thermoelectric application. Furthermore, the water resistance endows the TEIG with great thermoelectric performances in the underwater environment, including satisfactory ionic Seebeck coefficient, outstanding durability, and superior salt tolerance. Therefore, this investigation provides a promising strategy to design water-resistant TE materials, enabling a remarkable potential in harvesting low-grade heat energy under water. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers in Smart and Functional Polymers)
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