Polymers and Soft Materials

Abstract

Polymers and soft materials have a wide range of applications in different fields, including industrial, pharmaceutical, energy, and electronics. The properties of these materials are determined by the intricate connections among their chemical structure, local intermolecular and global morphology, and kinetics. Understanding these connections is essential for developing new and better polymer-based function materials. Advanced characterization using synchrotron radiation has been utilized by researchers in both fundamental and applied research in polymer science, providing valuable insights into a wide range of scientific questions. This special issue will feature polymer and soft material research from a small selection of synchrotron facilities across the globe. These facilities include the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS, USA), Advanced Photon Source (APS, USA), National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS II, USA), Synchrotron SOLEIL (France), and DIAMOND Light Source (UK). Rather than a comprehensive review, the aim here is to provide a selection of examples showcasing the applications of synchrotron radiation in polymer and soft materials research, as well as highlighting a range of unique capabilities of each facility. Building upon the more traditional techniques, such as small and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS), X-ray diffraction, microscopy and spectroscopy, modern synchrotron facilities have been continuously working on strengthening these techniques, including improving the beamline optics, developing new sample environments, and incorporating advanced data analysis methods. Exemplified by the newly constructed FMB beamline at CHESS, advances have been made in microand nanoprobes, as well as time-resolved coherent scattering techniques across different synchrotron facilities. Additionally, there has been development of automated and modular setups that allow for insitu/operando measurements. Moreover, significant effort has been invested in developing multimodal capabilities, which allow correlated analysis for in-situ studies. Highthroughput techniques have also been developed, which enable the screening of large sample libraries with autonomous experimental control with the assistance from artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) methods. These techniques have shown promising results in the analysis and interpretation of large datasets, as well as in the development of predictive models. State-of-the-art capabilities, such as resonant soft and tender X-ray scattering, as well as soft X-ray microscopy, have sparked increasing demand from the soft-matter research community, demonstrated by the RSoXS beamline at the Advanced Light Source (ALS), the NIST-funded RSoXS beamline, and the SMI beamline at NSLS II. Energy tunable soft and tender X-rays have been proven to be a unique set of tools that can probe molecular and electronic structure, spatial and orientation information, and time-resolved dynamics in polymeric materials. Soft X-ray spectroscopy, scattering, and imaging techniques are highly sensitive to elemental composition and chemical bonding and can reveal information about the molecular orientation and packing in a polymer film, the morphology of polymer blends, and the electronic structure of polymer-based devices. In this special issue, a range of examples will be covered that illustrate the diverse applications of polymer and soft materials. These examples include flexible electronics, gas separations, fuel cells, water desalination, additive manufacturing, and photoresist for lithography. These applications highlight the versatility and importance of polymer and soft materials in a variety of cutting-edge technolSynchrotron Radiation News ISSN 0894-0886 is published bi-monthly. Coden Code: SRN EFR