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Surface and Interface Analysis of Polymeric Materials

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Analysis and Characterization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 1554

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory Fine Chemicals, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, No.2 Linggong Road, Dalian 116024, China
Interests: colloid and surface interface chemistry

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Polymers are essential in the development of coatings and water-based lotions, offering outstanding performance and a wide range of applications across various materials. Polymers at surfaces and interfaces play a key role in many applications, such as composite materials, nanocomposites, blend compatibilizers, friction, adhesion, surface modification, superhydrophobic surfaces, biofouling, bioelectronics, chemical and biochemical sensors, and the biocompatibility of implants and artificial organs. Continuous innovation in materials and the application of nanotechnology will further improve polymer performance, reveal new functionalities in specialized fields, and offer more competitive solutions for various industries. This Special Issue will collect state-of-the-art articles and reviews related to applications and fundamentals of polymers at surfaces and interfaces. We welcome scholars to actively submit papers.

Dr. Yupeng He
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • surface interface chemistry
  • blends
  • water-based emulsions
  • viscosity reducer
  • environmental coatings
  • polymer preparation processes
  • supramolecular polymers
  • polymer characterization and functions

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 3572 KiB  
Article
Effect of Degree of Ethoxylation on the Surface and Thermal Properties of Polymeric Ionic Liquids for Oilfield Applications
by Mohammed Alotaibi, Mohanad Fahmi, Masooma Nazar, Ahmad Mahboob, Syed Muhammad Shakil Hussain and Muhammad Shahzad Kamal
Polymers 2025, 17(5), 580; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym17050580 - 22 Feb 2025
Viewed by 510
Abstract
Worldwide energy needs are growing, requiring new extraction techniques for crude oil from old reservoirs. However, conventional chemicals face difficulties when exposed to harsh reservoir environments such as solubility in high saline water and heat stability under harsh reservoir environments. This study investigates [...] Read more.
Worldwide energy needs are growing, requiring new extraction techniques for crude oil from old reservoirs. However, conventional chemicals face difficulties when exposed to harsh reservoir environments such as solubility in high saline water and heat stability under harsh reservoir environments. This study investigates the potential of newly synthesized polymeric ionic liquids (PILs) as alternative options. A series of PILs was synthesized and characterized by using NMR and FTIR techniques. It was noticed that a PIL without ethoxy groups exhibits precipitation and therefore is not suitable for oilfield applications. However, the incorporation of ethoxy groups in the chemical structure of PILs leads to excellent solubility in low to high salinity brine. The solubility of the synthesized PILs in formation water, seawater, and deionized water, as well as their thermal stability using thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), was assessed. In addition, the surface properties, including critical micelle concentration (cmc), surface tension (γcmc), surface excess concentration (Γmax), minimal surface area per molecule (Amin), free adsorption energy (ΔG°ads), and free micellization energy (ΔG°mic), were also evaluated. The findings revealed that adding ethoxy groups in PILs led to a drop in Γmax and an increase in Amin, suggesting reduced monolayer compactness at the air/water interface. The synthesized PILs demonstrated remarkable solubility, heat stability, and resistance to salt, rendering them well-suited for oilfield applications under challenging reservoir environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surface and Interface Analysis of Polymeric Materials)
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13 pages, 2318 KiB  
Article
Preparation and Properties of Epoxy Modified Acrylic Polymer
by Shiyan Zhou, Jinmei Ma, Jun-Wen Yu, Zhigang Gao, Fei Li, Fenghua Zhang and Yu-Peng He
Polymers 2025, 17(3), 380; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym17030380 - 30 Jan 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 793
Abstract
This paper describes the synthesis of a viscosity-reducing agent using butyl acrylate (BA), ethyl methacrylate (EMA), acrylic acid (AA) and N-hydroxymethylacrylamide (N-MAM) monomers through emulsion polymerization. A series of viscosity-reducing agents were developed by incorporating varying amounts of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) monomers. [...] Read more.
This paper describes the synthesis of a viscosity-reducing agent using butyl acrylate (BA), ethyl methacrylate (EMA), acrylic acid (AA) and N-hydroxymethylacrylamide (N-MAM) monomers through emulsion polymerization. A series of viscosity-reducing agents were developed by incorporating varying amounts of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) monomers. The reaction mechanism of epoxy acrylate viscosity reducer was analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Additionally, the particle size and Zeta potential were used to analyze the stability of the polymer and the difference in the polymer after adding GMA monomer. Thermogravimetric (TG) analysis indicated a significant improvement in the thermal stability of the resin due to GMA modification. The viscosity reduction test results demonstrated a substantial decrease in the viscosity of heavy oil, along with a notable increase in the viscosity reduction rate. The FTIR analysis results confirmed that GMA successfully introduced polyacrylate molecular chains. Furthermore, particle size and Zeta potential measurements showed that the average particle size of the emulsion increased from 132 nm to 187 nm, while the Zeta potential changed from −43 mV to −40 mV with the addition of 15% GMA. Compared with W0, the final thermal degradation temperature of W15 increased from 450 °C to 517 °C. When the GMA content reached 15 wt%, the maximum weight loss temperature increased by approximately 12 °C compared to the sample without GMA. Specifically, adding 8% W15 epoxy acrylate resulted in an 89% viscosity reduction rate for heavy oil, demonstrating an excellent viscosity reduction effect. This study successfully developed a novel epoxy acrylate viscosity reducer using a simple synthesis method, showcasing excellent stability, cost-effectiveness and remarkable viscosity reduction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surface and Interface Analysis of Polymeric Materials)
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