@article{li_biswas_ford_2022, title={Dual roles of sodium polyacrylate in alginate fiber wet-spinning: Modify the solution rheology and strengthen the fiber}, volume={297}, ISSN={["1879-1344"]}, DOI={10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.120001}, abstractNote={Limitations to the scaling of sodium alginate (SA) fibers by wet spinning and for commercial applications are the high spinning dope viscosity and low fiber mechanical performance. In this study, the viscosities of SA spinning dopes dramatically reduced to an order of magnitude lower while the maximum spin draw ratio increased from 1 to 6 as sodium polyacrylate (PAAS) loading increased up to 20 %. However, distinct to a simple plasticizing effect, adding appropriate amount of PAAS strengthens the mechanical properties of fully drawn fibers, through the formation of new physical crosslinks with SA. Fibers having the tenacity of ∼0.6 cN/dtex, modulus of ∼37 cN/dtex, strain at break of ∼7 % and toughness of ∼4 J/g were achieved with 15 % PAAS loading. Therefore, the PAAS addition has dual-effects in SA fiber wet spinning: to modify the rheology of the SA spinning solution and to strengthen the wet-spun SA fibers for textile applications.}, journal={CARBOHYDRATE POLYMERS}, author={Li, Shanshan and Biswas, Manik Chandra and Ford, Ericka}, year={2022}, month={Dec} }
 @article{li_lv_ai_shen_tonelli_2020, title={A New Two-Step Strategy for Encapsulating Amorphous Polymer Chains in Thiourea Crystals}, volume={221}, ISSN={["1521-3935"]}, DOI={10.1002/macp.202000269}, abstractNote={AbstractThe establishment of methodologies for encapsulating polymers in small molecular hosts is not only highly desirable to facilitate new material functions but also very important for the development of fundamental science. Herein a new strategy for encapsulating noncrystalline polymer chains with bulky side groups in thiourea (TU) crystals is disclosed. In the process, the noncrystalline polymer is first complexed with TU and 1,4‐dioxane molecules, forming a crystalline metastable complex structure with melting temperature below 110 °C. Subsequent removal of 1,4‐dioxane through heating the complex at 120 °C collapses the metastable complexes, but surprisingly affords a polymer‐TU inclusion compound (IC) structure, as demonstrated by infrared radiation, differential scanning calorimetry, and X‐ray powder diffraction. The strategy is applicable to both atactic‐poly (methyl methacrylate) and ‐polystyrene, suggesting that it might be a universal method for encapsulating noncrystalline polymer chains in thiourea crystal canals.}, number={20}, journal={MACROMOLECULAR CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS}, author={Li, Shanshan and Lv, Dongxu and Ai, Ning and Shen, Jialong and Tonelli, Alan E.}, year={2020}, month={Oct} }
 @article{li_rizvi_lynch_tracy_ford_2021, title={Flexible Cyclic-Poly(phthalaldehyde)/Poly(epsilon-caprolactone) Blend Fibers with Fast Daylight-Triggered Transience}, volume={42}, ISSN={["1521-3927"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1002/marc.202000657}, DOI={10.1002/marc.202000657}, abstractNote={AbstractCyclic‐poly(phthalaldehyde) (cPPHA) exhibits photo‐triggerable depolymerization on‐demand for applications like the photolithography of microfabricated electronics. However, cPPHA is inherently brittle and thermally sensitive; both of these properties limit its usefulness as an engineering plastic. Prior to this report, small molecule plasticizers are added to cPPHA‐based films to make the polymer more flexible. But plasticizers can eventually leach out of cPPHA, then leaving it increasingly more brittle throughout product lifetime. In this research, a new approach to fabricating flexible cPPHA blends for use as spun fibers is achieved through the incorporation of poly (ε‐caprolactone) (PCL) by a modified wet spinning method. Among blend compositions, the 50/50 cPPHA/PCL fiber shows fast transience (<50 s) in response to daylight while retaining the flexibility of PCL and mechanical properties of an elastomer (i.e., tensile strength of ≈8 MPa, Young's modulus of ≈118 MPa, and elongation at break of ≈190%). Embedding 2 wt% gold nanoparticles to cPPHA can further improve the transience rate of fibers comprising less than 50% cPPHA. These flexible, daylight‐triggerable cPPHA/PCL fibers can be applied to an extensive range of applications, such as wearable electronics, intelligent textiles, and zero waste packaging for which modest mechanical performance and fast transience are desired.}, number={7}, journal={MACROMOLECULAR RAPID COMMUNICATIONS}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Li, Shanshan and Rizvi, Mehedi H. and Lynch, Brian B. and Tracy, Joseph B. and Ford, Ericka}, year={2021}, month={Apr} }
 @article{li_shen_tonelli_2018, title={Self-assembled complexation of urea with poly (methyl methacrylate): A potential method for small molecule encapsulation in PMMA}, volume={156}, ISSN={["1873-2291"]}, DOI={10.1016/j.polymer.2018.09.055}, abstractNote={In this research we report a complex material formed between poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and urea. The disassociation temperatures of the PMMA/U complexes are higher than the glass transition temperature of neat PMMA and lower than the melting temperature of neat urea. As we reported previously, the as received-PMMA (asr-PMMA) contained a small amount of residual alkane-like surfactant. When forming the PMMA/U complexes with saturated urea-methanol solution, the originally contained contaminant can be encapsulated by urea in the form of a crystalline inclusion compound (IC) and dispersed within the PMMA/U complex. Since urea has been reported to form ICs with various small molecules, this phenomenon provides a potential way for small molecule encapsulation by using PMMA as the substrate and urea as the encapsulant.}, journal={POLYMER}, author={Li, Shanshan and Shen, Jialong and Tonelli, Alan E.}, year={2018}, month={Nov}, pages={95–101} }
 @misc{gurarslan_joijode_shen_narayanan_antony_li_caydamli_tonelli_2017, title={Reorganizing polymer chains with cyclodextrins}, volume={9}, number={12}, journal={Polymers}, author={Gurarslan, A. and Joijode, A. and Shen, J. L. and Narayanan, G. and Antony, G. J. and Li, S. S. and Caydamli, Y. and Tonelli, A. E.}, year={2017} }
 @article{shen_caydamli_gurarslan_li_tonelli_2017, title={The glass transition temperatures of amorphous linear aliphatic polyesters}, volume={124}, ISSN={["1873-2291"]}, DOI={10.1016/j.polymer.2017.07.054}, abstractNote={A series of wholly amorphous linear aliphatic co- and tetra-polyesters were synthesized via bulk melt step-growth polymerization. Their glass transition temperatures were determined using DSC and were essentially unaffected by crystallinity. The glass transition temperatures of the polyesters increase linearly with the ratio of ester groups per methylene group. Extrapolations of the ratio to zero ester group content gave a reliable value for the Tg of amorphous polyethylene (PE). The experimental Tgs manifest a steeper slope on the Tg vs. ester group content plot compared to those calculated using Van Krevelen's group contribution method. The intramolecular equilibrium flexibilities were evaluated through the calculation of conformational entropies of individual polymer chains approximated by considering solely the short-range interactions between neighboring groups, as embodied in their RIS conformational models. Their calculated conformational entropies, Sconf, decrease linearly with increasing ester group content, leading to the observation that Sconf ∝1/Tg.}, journal={POLYMER}, author={Shen, Jialong and Caydamli, Yavuz and Gurarslan, Alper and Li, Shanshan and Tonelli, Alan E.}, year={2017}, month={Aug}, pages={235–245} }
 @article{li_shen_tonelli_2018, title={The influence of a contaminant in commercial PMMA: A purification method for its removal and its consequences}, volume={135}, ISSN={["1873-2291"]}, DOI={10.1016/j.polymer.2017.12.033}, abstractNote={An alkane-like contaminant was isolated from as-received commercial PMMA by forming a conventional urea inclusion compound during the preparation of a PMMA-urea complex. The contaminant, likely a surfactant used in the emulsion polymerization of PMMA, acts as a plasticizer in the commercial PMMA sample. After removing the contaminant, the resultant coalesced-PMMA showed an approximately 30 °C higher glass transition temperature than the as-received PMMA. Forming the PMMA-urea complex and then removing urea and the contaminant together with methanol can purify commercial PMMA and "unmask" its true Tg. Considering the large amount of research performed on PMMA blends, thin films, and nanocomposites, often with inconsistent or conflicting results, we believe the purity of some PMMAs used in past and future studies needs to be examined. Because commercial polystyrene is also obtained by emulsion polymerization and its blends, thin films, and nanocomposites have also been extensively studied, a similar contaminant may be affecting its behavior.}, journal={POLYMER}, author={Li, Shanshan and Shen, Jialong and Tonelli, Alan E.}, year={2018}, month={Jan}, pages={355–361} }
 @article{caydamli_ding_joijode_li_shen_zhu_tonelli_2015, title={Estimating Monomer Sequence Distributions in Tetrapolyacrylates}, volume={48}, ISSN={["1520-5835"]}, DOI={10.1021/ma5019268}, abstractNote={Recently Ting et al. [ACS Macro Lett. 2013, 2, 770−774] described the syntheses of acrylic tetrapolymers with controlled molecular weights and tetramonomer compositions. Relative reactivity ratios of all monomer pairs were determined and used in the Walling–Briggs terminal copolymerization model along with Skeist’s equations to address the expected compositional drift in the monomer feed ratios. The anticipated control of monomer incorporation based on this approach was verified experimentally on several tetrapolyacrylates synthesized by RAFT polymerization, which additionally controlled their molecular weights. Their “new and simple paradigm combining both predictive models provides complementary synthetic and predictive tools for designing macromolecular chemical architectures with hierarchical control over spatially dependent structure–property relationships for complex applications” is extended here to the derivation of expected monad compositions, and diad, triad, and tetrad monomer sequence distribu...}, number={1}, journal={MACROMOLECULES}, author={Caydamli, Yavuz and Ding, Yi and Joijode, Abhay and Li, Shanshan and Shen, Jialong and Zhu, Jiadeng and Tonelli, Alan E.}, year={2015}, month={Jan}, pages={58–63} }