Evolution of concentric spherulites in crystalline-crystalline poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate)-b-poly(ethylene glycol) copolymers

• The spherulites of PEG block and PHBV block in the PHEGs crystallized individually.
• PEG and PHBV blocks nucleated in the same site forming a concentric spherulite.
• The first growing spherulite acted as a template for the later spherulite growth.
• The spherulite growth rate of PEG and PHBV varied in the concentric spherulite.
• The crystallization environment led a varied morphology of concentric spherulite.

Crystalline-crystalline poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) and poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) block copolymers (PHEGs) were synthesized by telechelic hydroxylated PHBV2000 and PEG with different number-average molecular weights. The synthesized PHEGs were analyzed using gel permeation chromatography and proton nuclear magnetic resonance. The cooling curves of the differential scanning calorimetry showed that the range of the melt-crystallization temperature of the PEG and PHBV blocks in the PHEGs partially overlapped. The spherulite of each PEG block and each PHBV block in the PHEGs crystallizes individually, but nucleated in the same site to form a concentric spherulite. The observations of the hot-stage polarized microscope (HSPM) showed that the first spherulite growth acted as a template for the later spherulite growth in the PHBV-b-PEG concentric spherulite. The spherulite growth rate of individual spherulite from the PEG block and PHBV block in PHEGs depends on the crystallization environment. The evolution of concentric spherulites in PHEGs at different crystallization conditions was studied in this study.

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