TY - JOUR A1 - Szymoniak, Paulina A1 - Pauw, Brian Richard A1 - Qu, Xintong A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Competition of nanoparticle-induced mobilization and immobilization effects on segmental dynamics of an epoxy-based nanocomposite N2 - The complex effects of nanoparticles on a thermosetting material based on an anhydride cured DGEBA/Boehmite nanocomposite with different particle concentrations is considered. A combination of X-ray scattering, calorimetry, including fast scanning calorimetry as well as temperature modulated calorimetry and dielectric spectroscopy, was employed to study the structure, the vitrification kinetics and the molecular dynamics of the nanocomposites. For the first time in the literature for an epoxy-based composite a detailed analysis of the X-ray data was carried out. Moreover, the unfilled polymer was found to be intrinsically heterogeneous, showing regions with different crosslinking density, indicated by two separate dynamic glass transitions. The glass transition temperature decreases with increasing nanoparticle concentration, resulting from a change in the crosslinking density. Moreover, on the one hand, for nanocomposites the incorporation of nanofiller increased the number of mobile segments for low nanoparticle concentrations, due to the altered crosslinking density. On the other hand, for higher loading degrees the number of mobile segments decreased, resulting from the formation of an immobilized interphase (RAF). The simultaneous mobilization and immobilization of the segmental dynamics cannot be separated unambiguously. Taking the sample with highest number of mobile segments as reference state it was possible to estimate the amount of RAF. KW - Nanocomposite PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d0sm00744g SN - 1744-683X VL - 16 IS - 23 SP - 5406 EP - 5421 PB - Royal Chemical Society AN - OPUS4-50883 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yildirim, Arda A1 - Krause, Christina A1 - Zorn, R. A1 - Lohstroh, W. A1 - Schneider, G. J. A1 - Zamponi, M. A1 - Holerer, O. A1 - Frick, B. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Complex molecular dynamics of a symmetric model discotic liquid crystal revealed by broadband dielectric, thermal and neutron spectroscopy N2 - The molecular dynamics of the triphenylene-based discotic liquid crystal HAT6 is investigated by broadband dielectric spectroscopy, advanced dynamical calorimetry and neutron scattering. Differential scanning calorimetry in combination with X-ray scattering reveals that HAT6 has a plastic crystalline phase at low temperatures, a hexagonally ordered liquid crystalline phase at higher temperatures and undergoes a clearing transition at even higher temperatures. The dielectric spectra show several relaxation processes: a localized gamma-relaxation a lower temperature and a so called alpha-2-relaxation at higher temperatures. The relaxation rates of the alpha-2-relaxation have a complex temperature dependence and bear similarities to a dynamic glass transition. The relaxation rates estimated by hyper DSC, Fast Scanning calorimetry and AC Chip calorimetry have a different temperature dependence than the dielectric alpha-2-relaxation and follows the VFT-behavior characteristic for glassy dynamics. Therefore, this process is called alpha-1-relaxation. Its relaxation rates show a similarity with that of polyethylene. For this reason, the alpha-1-relaxation is assigned to the dynamic glass transition of the alkyl chains in the intercolumnar space. Moreover, this process is not observed by dielectric spectroscopy which supports its assignment. The alpha-2-relaxation was assigned to small scale translatorial and/or small angle fluctuations of the cores. The neutron scattering data reveal two relaxation processes. The process observed at shorter relaxation times is assigned to the methyl group rotation. The second relaxation process at longer time scales agree in the temperature dependence of its relaxation rates with that of the dielectric gamma-relaxation. KW - Discotic Liquid Crystals PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/c9sm02487e VL - 16 IS - 8 SP - 2005 EP - 2016 PB - Royal Chemical Society AN - OPUS4-50466 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yildirim, Arda A1 - Kolmangadi, Mohamed Aejaz A1 - Bühlmeyer, A. A1 - Huber, P. A1 - Laschat, S. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Electrical conductivity and multiple glassy dynamics of crow-ether based columnar liquid crystals N2 - The phase behavior of two unsymmetrical triphenylene crown ether-based columnar liquid crystals (CLCs) bearing different lengths of alkyl chains, KAL465 and KAL468, was investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). A plastic crystalline (Cry), columnar liquid crystalline (Colh) and an isotropic phase were observed along with two glass transitions in the Cry phase. The molecular mobility of the KAL compounds was further studied by a combination of broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) and advanced calorimetric techniques. By the BDS investigations, three dielectric active relaxation processes were observed for both samples. At low temperatures, a γ-process in the Cry state was detected and is assigned to the localized fluctuations taking place in the alkyl chains. An α2-process takes place at higher temperatures in the Cry phase. An α3 process was found in the Colh mesophase. The advanced calorimetric techniques consist of fast scanning calorimetry (FSC) and specific heat spectroscopy (SHS) employing temperature modulated DSC and FSC (TMDSC and TMFSC). The advanced calorimetric investigations revealed that besides the α2 process in agreement with BDS, a second dynamic glass transition (α1-process) is present which is not observed by dielectric spectroscopy. The results are in good agreement with the glass transitions detected by DSC for this process. The temperature dependences of the relaxation rates of the α1 , α2 and α3 processes are all different. Therefore, different molecular assignments for the relaxation processes are proposed. In addition to the relaxation processes, a conductivity contribution was explored by BDS for both KAL compounds. The conductivity contribution appears in both Cry and Colh phases, where the conductivity increases by ca. one order of magnitude at phase transition from the crystalline to the hexagonal phase. KW - Columnar Liquid Crystal PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.0c06854 VL - 124 IS - 39 SP - 8728 EP - 8739 PB - ACS AN - OPUS4-51374 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Madkour, Sherif A1 - Garwek, Marcel A1 - Hertwig, Andreas A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Do Interfacial Layers in Thin Films Act as an Independent Layer Within Thin Films? N2 - The thermodynamic behavior of thin PVME films including the irreversible adsorbed layer on the substrate is investigated. In a first step, the growth kinetics of the adsorbed layer was studied combining a leaching technique and atomic force microscopy. Further, it was shown that there is a critical initial film thickness for the formation of a surface-filling adsorbed layer. Additionally, spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements were carried out to investigate the influence of the adsorbed layer on the glass transition temperature of the thin films. For 30 nm films and below, the influence of the adsorbed layer percolates strongly to the bulk-like layer of the film. Finally, the molecular dynamics of the adsorbed layer was studied by broadband dielectric spectroscopy, employing nanostructured-electrode systems. One process was revealed, which was assigned either to molecular fluctuations taking place in a loosely-bounded the part of the adsorbed layer, or to the desorption/adsorption of segments at the substrate. KW - Thin polymer films PY - 2021 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.0c02149 VL - 54 IS - 1 SP - 509 EP - 519 PB - ACS Publications AN - OPUS4-52037 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Thermal behavior of high preformance polymers - Fast Scanning Calorimetry and more N2 - The glass tranistion behavior of polymers of intrinsic microporosity and polynornornes is discussed. T2 - Flash DSC Conference 2021 CY - Online meeting DA - 06.12.2021 KW - Polymer of Intrisic Maicroporosity KW - Highly permeable polynorbornenes PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-53938 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fahmy, Alaa A1 - Saied, M. A. A. A1 - Morgan, N. A1 - Abdelbary, H. A1 - Bahy, S. M. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas A1 - Friedrich, J. F. T1 - Modified polyvinyl chloride membrane grafted with an ultra-thin polystyrene film: structure and electrochemical properties N2 - The work explores the synthesis and the properties of a novel composite membrane System based on modified polystyrene (PS) grafted onto a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) membrane. PVC membranes were prepared by solution-casting followed by exposure to an atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) with O2 to obtain an activated Surface for grafting PS to it. Moreover, the thus prepared membranes were chemically modified furthermore by amination with polyethyleneimine or sulfonation with 4 M sulfuric acid. The membrane surface characteristics such as wettability, structure and morphology were investigated using water contact angle measurements, attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy experiments. The thermogravimetric stability and electrolytic responses of the membranes were studied utilizing TGA, ion exchange capacity (IEC), and solvent uptake. A significant result of plasma and chemical modification was to produce a membrane material with low permeability. Thus, the methanol permeability of the sulfonated membranes measured for 12 h was measured to 2.34$10� 8 cm2 s� 1 compared to 177.00$10� 8 cm2 s� 1 of Nafion 117®which is considered as a benchmark. This result indicates that the prepared sulfonated samples are an innovative and effective material for decreasing the methanol crossover in fuel cells to a great extent. This makes the PVC-g-St membranes are promising and attractive as new materials for polyelectrolyte membrane for fuel cells. KW - Electrolyte membrane KW - Fuell cells PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-526794 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2021.04.018 VL - 12 SP - 2273 EP - 2284 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-52679 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kolmangadi, Mohamed Aejaz A1 - Yildirim, Arda A1 - Sentker, K. A1 - Butschies, M. A1 - Bühlmeyer, A. A1 - Huber, P. A1 - Lachat, S. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Molecular dynamics and electrical conductivity of Guanidinium based Ionic liquid crystals: Influence of cation headgroup configuration N2 - Molecular mobility and conductivity of four bent shaped tetramethylated guanidinium based ionic liquid crystals (ILCs) with varying head group configuration (cyclic or acyclic) and alkyl chain length is investigated by a combination of broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) and specific heat spectroscopy (SHS). Two dielectrically active processes observed in the plastic crystalline phase at low and high temperatures are denoted as γ and α1 relaxation. The former is assigned to localized fluctuations of methyl groups including nitrogen atoms in the guanidinium head groups. SHS investigations reveal one calorimetrically active process termed as α2 relaxation process. The temperature dependencies of the relaxation rates of α1 and α2 are similar for the cyclic ILC while for the acyclic counterpart they are different. Possible molecular assignments for the α1 and α2 relaxation are discussed in detail. Alongside relaxation processes, a significant conductivity contribution was observed for all ILCs, where the absolute value of DC conductivity increases by 4 orders of magnitude at the transition from the crystalline to the hexagonal columnar phase. The increase is traced to the change in the underlying conduction mechanism from the delocalized electrical conduction in the Cry phase to ionic conduction in the quasi 1D ion columns formed in the hexagonal columnar mesophase. KW - Ionic liquid crystal PY - 2021 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2021.115666 VL - 330 SP - 115666 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-52284 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Szymoniak, Paulina A1 - Qu, Xintong A1 - Abbasi, M. A1 - Pauw, Brian Richard A1 - Henning, S. A1 - Li, Z. A1 - Wang, D.-Y. A1 - Schick, C. A1 - Saalwächter, K. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Spatial inhomogeneity, Interfaces and Complex Vitrification Kinetics in a Network Forming Nanocomposite N2 - A detailed calorimetric study on an epoxy-based nanocomposite system was performed employing bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (DGEBA) cured with diethylenetriamine (DETA) as the polymer matrix and taurine-modified MgAL layered double hydroxide (T-LDH) as nanofiller. The -NH2 group of taurine can react with DGEBA improving the interaction of the polymer with the filler. The combined X-ray scattering, and electron microscopy data showed that the nanocomposite has a partially exfoliated morphology. Calorimetric studies were performed with conventional DSC, temperature modulated DSC (TMDSC) and fast scanning calorimetry (FSC) in the temperature modulated approach (TMFSC) to investigate the vitrification and molecular mobility in dependence of the filler concentration. First, TMDSC and NMR were used to estimate the amount of the rigid amorphous fraction which consists of immobilized polymer segments at the nanoparticle surface. It was found to be 40 wt% for the highest filler concentration, indicating that the interface dominates the overall macroscopic properties and behavior of the material to a great extent. Second, the relaxation rates of the α-relaxation obtained by TMDSC and TMFSC were compared with the thermal and dielectric relaxation rates measured by static FSC. The investigation revealed that the system shows two distinct α-relaxation processes. Furthermore, also two separate vitrification mechanisms were found for a bulk network-former without geometrical confinement as also confirmed by NMR. This was discussed in terms of the intrinsic spatial heterogeneity on a molecular scale, which becomes more pronounced with increasing nanofiller content. KW - Polymer based Nanocomposites PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-523199 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d0sm01992e SN - 1744-6848 VL - 17 IS - 10 SP - 2775 EP - 2790 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry AN - OPUS4-52319 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Knelles, J. A1 - Wanner, C. A1 - Schulz, F. A1 - Freund, M. A1 - Kolmangadi, Mohamed Aejaz A1 - Baro, A. A1 - Huber, P. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas A1 - Lachat, S. T1 - Liquid crystalline hydrazones revisited: dipolar interactions vs hydrogen bonding affecting mesomorphic properties N2 - In order to understand the role of dipolar interactions vs. H-bonding, a series of hydrazones were synthesised from 4-alkoxy-, 3,4-dialkoxy- or 3,4,5-trialkoxybenzaldehydes and phenyl, bromo- or nitrophenylhydrazine, respectively. Their mesomorphic properties were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarising optical microscopy (POM), X-ray diffraction (WAXS, SAXS) and compared with known members. Only those hydrazones derived from 3,4,5-trisalkoxybenzaldehyde and either meta, meta-dinitro- or ortho, para-dinitrophenylhydrazine displayed hexagonal columnar mesophases. All other derivatives were non-mesomorphic, even when H-bonds were present. Dipole moments of the various nitro-substituted hydrazones were experimentally determined by dielectric measurements and supported by theoretical DFT calculations, which indicated that the mesophase formation is mostly governed by strong dipole moment and further enforced by intramolecular H-bonding. KW - Discotic liquid crystals PY - 2021 DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/02678292.2021.1873438 VL - 48 IS - 10 SP - 1382 EP - 1391 PB - Taylor & Francis AN - OPUS4-52409 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fahmy, Alaa A1 - Kolmangadi, Mohamed Aejaz A1 - Schönhals, Andreas A1 - Friedrich, J. T1 - Structure of plasma‐deposited copolymer films preparedfrom acrylic acid and styrene: Part III sulfonation andelectrochemical properties N2 - Acrylic acid-styrene copolymer films were deposited plasma-chemically more gently using the pulsed plasma mode instead of the continuous mode, with linear and some slightly branched chains and marginal crosslinking. Then, the styrene unit of copolymers was wet-chemically sulfonated by chlorosulfuric acid. On exposure to air, the formed 4-chlorosulfonic acid groups hydrolyze to sulfonic acid groups (-SO3H). FTIR, XPS and broadband dielectric spectroscopy were employed to characterize the composition, the structure, the functional groups, and the electrochemical performance for the copolymers. A high concentration of sulfonic acid-containing groups was obtained in the sulfonated PS sample. The values of the DC conductivity DC for the sulfonated sample of the AA/S copolymer are ca. five orders of magnitude higher than that of the not-sulfonated copolymer materials. KW - Plasma Polymers KW - Electrolyte membrane PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/ppap.202100222 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Wiley VHC-Verlag AN - OPUS4-54539 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -