Abstract
Polymer science is a so pervasive and relevant discipline in the contemporary scenario that it is unnecessary to spend much words to emphasize its role. As a matter of fact, it has been proposed to designate our time as the polymer age, to mark its distinction from previous mankind eras dominated by a series of diverse materials (the stone, the bronze, the iron ages) and to remark that our lifestyle would be hardly conceivable without polymers. The advent and the global scale establishment of the polymer technology has shaped the world around us and has profoundly changed its perspectives, as it occurs for any revolutionary technology. Despite the astonishing achievements we have witnessed along the years, many exciting challenges remain to be faced; these are well worth to tackle because of their impact on our everyday life: examples include green polymer chemistry, environmental pollution issues, polymers for energy storage and delivery, polymers for the human health.
Highlights
Physical chemistry of polymeric systems is a field of great interest and activity, witnessed by the awarding of two important Nobel prizes (Flory, 1974; de Gennes, 1991)
Classical thermodynamic approaches are considered to be well established, major refinements are being proposed on the theme of H-bonding systems. Relevant fields such as membranes for gas mixtures separation, drug delivery materials, barrier structures for food packaging, durability, and aging issues in polymers and polymer-composites, are all impacted by the ubiquitous occurrence of H-bonding interactions between the substrate and low molecular weight penetrants, especially water
Improvements are expected in the near future along the directions of classical lattice fluid theories [notably, with the introduction of NonRandom lattice fluid Hydrogen Bonding models (NRHB)] and on the side of the available schemes to treat non-equilibrium glassy polymers (Scherillo et al, 2013)
Summary
Physical chemistry of polymeric systems is a field of great interest and activity, witnessed by the awarding of two important Nobel prizes (Flory, 1974; de Gennes, 1991). Relevant fields such as membranes for gas mixtures separation, drug delivery materials, barrier structures for food packaging, durability, and aging issues in polymers and polymer-composites, are all impacted by the ubiquitous occurrence of H-bonding interactions between the substrate and low molecular weight penetrants, especially water.
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