Can five chemically different lamellar crystals self-assemble in a single spherulite?

Eider Matxinandiarena, Ricardo A. Pérez-Camargo, Víctor Sebastián, Pengfei Zhang, Viko Ladelta, Nikos Hadjichristidis () and Alejandro J. Müller ()
Additional contact information
Eider Matxinandiarena: Paseo Manuel Lardizábal 3
Ricardo A. Pérez-Camargo: Paseo Manuel Lardizábal 3
Víctor Sebastián: Pedro Cerbuna 12
Pengfei Zhang: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Viko Ladelta: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Nikos Hadjichristidis: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Alejandro J. Müller: Paseo Manuel Lardizábal 3

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Semicrystalline polymers with multiple crystallizable blocks provide opportunities to develop materials with hierarchical structures and customized properties, but they also pose unique challenges for understanding their crystallization. In this work, we investigate the crystallization from a miscible melt of a pentablock quintopolymer composed of five potentially crystallizable and biocompatible blocks, composed of polyethylene (PE), poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL), poly(L-lactide) (PLLA), and polyglycolide (PGA), with a composition optimized to allow the crystallization of all blocks. Using Differential Scanning Calorimetry, synchrotron Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, synchrotron in situ Wide-angle and Small-angle X-Ray Scattering, Transmission Electron Microscopy, and Polarized Light Optical Microscopy, we demonstrate that upon cooling from the melt, all covalently linked blocks crystallize in a well-defined sequence: PGA > PLLA > PE > PCL > PEO. During crystallization, well-developed pentacrystalline positive spherulites are produced. This unprecedented level of self-assembly reveals the potential of complex block polymers to design multifunctional crystalline materials.

Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64845-6 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-64845-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-64845-6

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().