Ultraslow Adsorption of Star <i>cis</i>-1,4-Polyisoprenes by In Situ Imbibition in Nanopores

Abstract

Using in situ nanodielectric spectroscopy, we report the imbibition kinetics of star cis -1,4-polyisoprenes in alumina nanopores as a function of chain architecture (linear vs multiarm stars), pore size, molar mass, and temperature. We demonstrate that the imbibition kinetics of star cis -1,4-polyisoprenes proceeds via a slow adsorption mechanism, about 2 orders of magnitude slower than in linear polyisoprenes. Such ultraslow time scales (∼10 6 s) have not been reported for any polymer at temperatures well above T g . We have explored the different imbibition kinetics of linear and star topologies in separating the components of a homogeneous blend composed of linear/star chains.