Electroactive methacrylate‐based triblock copolymer elastomer for actuator application. Issue 9 (19th February 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cho, Kie Yong; Hwang, Seung Sang; Yoon, Ho Gyu; Baek, Kyung‐Youl
• Is Part Of: Journal of polymer science. Volume 51:Issue 9(2013:May)
• Page Start: 1924
• Page End: 1932
• Publication Date: 2013-02-19
• Subjects: 547
• DOI: 10.1002/pola.26563
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0887-624X

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>A series of ABA triblock copolymers of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and dodecyl methacrylate (DMA) [poly(MMA‐<italic>b</italic>‐DMA‐<italic>b</italic>‐MMA)] (PMDM) were synthesized by Ru‐based sequential living radical polymerization. For this, DMA was first polymerized from a difunctional initiator, ethane‐1, 2‐diyl <italic>bis</italic>(2‐chloro‐2‐phenylacetate) with combination of RuCl₂(PPh₃)₃ catalyst and <italic>n</italic>Bu₃N additive in toluene at 80 °C. As the conversion of DMA reached over about 90%, MMA was directly added into the reaction solution to give PMDM with controlled molecular weight (<italic>M</italic>_w/<italic>M</italic>_n ≤ 1.2). These triblock copolymers showed well‐organized morphologies such as body centered cubic, hexagonal cylinder, and lamella structures both in bulk and in thin film by self‐assembly phenomenon with different poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) weight fractions. Obtained PMDMs with 20–40 wt % of the PMMA segments showed excellent electroactive actuation behaviors at relatively low voltages, which was much superior compared to conventional styrene‐ethylene‐butylene‐styrene triblock copolymer systems due to its higher polarity derived from the methacrylate backbone and lower modulus. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2013</p> </abstract>