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Summary: ARTICLES
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 5 FEBRUARY 2012 | DOI: 10.1038/NMAT3234
Ultrastable nanostructured polymer glasses
Yunlong Guo1
, Anatoli Morozov2
, Dirk Schneider3
, Jae Woo Chung1
, Chuan Zhang1
,
Maike Waldmann4
, Nan Yao4
, George Fytas3,5
, Craig B. Arnold2,4
and Rodney D. Priestley1,4
*
Owing to the kinetic nature of the glass transition, the ability to significantly alter the properties of amorphous solids by the
typical routes to the vitreous state is restricted. For instance, an order of magnitude change in the cooling rate merely modifies
the value of the glass transition temperature (Tg) by a few degrees. Here we show that matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation
(MAPLE) can be used to form ultrastable and nanostructured glassy polymer films which, relative to the standard poly(methyl
methacrylate) glass formed on cooling at standard rates, are 40% less dense, have a 40 K higher Tg, and exhibit a two orders
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