Intellectual merit: Chemically dissimilar polymers are rarely miscible due to an entropy of mixing that scales as 1/N, where N is the degree of polymerization. As a consequence, the compatibilization of immiscible polymer blends presents a major challenge to plastics recycling efforts. This work demonstrates that when the chain ends of two highly immiscible polymers are functionalized with reacting acid and base groups, ionic junctions form in situ by proton transfer, leading to the stabilization of interfaces and the suppression of macroscopic phase separation. Self-consistent field theory (SCFT) revealed that ionic interactions can be tuned to create a broad range of morphologies, from microphases to macrophases.
Broader Impacts: This work demonstrates a unique route to compatibilize immiscible polymers. These insights have implications in more efficient strategies to recycle plastic waste, a significant issue in society today.
Figure: Functionalizing different polymers with a small number of complementary ions dramatically changes the optical properties and morphology of blends.
