Effect of Polystyrene Synthesis Method on Water Sorption and Glass Transition.

Commodity PS is synthesized via free radical polymerization, whereas PS in block copolymers (BCPs) is typically synthesized via living anionic polymerization. The purpose of this work is to investigate how the synthesis method impacts important properties such as water sorption and glass transition temperature (). Water sorption is important because the performance of nanostructured polymer membranes in various applications is known to be affected by environmental conditions such as humidity.