Reordering of polystyrene gel due to multiple swelling in organic vapor: Fast transient fluorescence technique study

Reordering of disc-shaped polystyrene (PS) gels due to multiple swelling, under organic vapor was studied by using Fast Transient Fluorescence (FTRF) technique. Disc-shaped polystyrene gels were prepared by free radical copolymerization (FRC) of styrene (S) with ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDM) as a crosslinker. Pyrene (P) was introduced as a fluorescence probe during polymerization. Swelling experiments were performed by using P doped PS gels under chloroform vapor. After each swelling step, gels were left to dry in an oven at 30 °C for consecutive reswelling experiments. Decay curves of P were measured and pyrene lifetimes, τ, were determined. It was observed that τ values decreased as swelling recycles were repeated. It was observed that after the fifth swelling step, two different regimes appeared in the swelling processes in PS gels. Swelling time constant, τc, and cooperative diffusion coefficients, Dc, were determined by using Li–Tanaka equation for each swelling step in both regimes. It was observed that Dc values decreased up to tenth swelling step and then remained unchanged in both regimes.