Journal
CHINESE JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE
Volume 40, Issue 4, Pages 333-337Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10118-022-2679-3
Keywords
Polyformaldehyde; Single molecule force spectroscopy; Inherent elasticity; Flexibility; QM-FRC model
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [21774102]
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This study investigates the single-chain elasticity of polyformaldehyde (POM) using atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based single molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) for the first time. The results show that the flexibility of POM can be regulated by the proportion of C-O bonds in the backbone, providing new insights for the rational design of synthetic polymers in the future.
In this work, the single-chain elasticity of polyformaldehyde (POM) is studied, for the first time, by employing atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based single molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS). We find that the single-chain elasticity of POM in a nonpolar organic solvent (nonane) can be described well by a theoretical model (QM-FRC model), when the rotating unit length is 0.144 nm (C-O bond length). After comparison, POM is more flexible than polystyrene (a typical polymer with C-C backbone) at the single-chain level, which is reasonable since the C-O bond has a lower rotation barrier than C-C bond. This result indicates that the flexibility of a polymer chain can be tuned by the C-O bond proportion in backbone, which casts new light on the rational design of new synthetic polymers in the future.
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