Effect of interfacial interaction on polymorphic selection during epitaxy revealed by crystallization of isotactic poly(1-butene) on its highly oriented form I substrate

The performance of polymer composite materials depends not only on the multiscale structures of used components but also the interfacial structure between the separated phases. Epitaxy provides an effective strategy for purposeful regulation of the interfacial structure and the crystal structure of the epilayer, both are vital to control the performance of the composite. The accurate control of crystal and orientation structures is generally associated to some kind lattice matching between the epitaxial pairs. The crystallization of poly(1-butene) (iPBu) on its highly oriented form I (iPBu-I) crystals results, however, in the formation of highly oriented form II (iPBu-II) lamellar crystals. Therefore, the influencing factors for crystal modification selection during epitaxy of polymorphic iPBu have been discussed in details based on the results obtained in this work and reported in previous work. It is concluded that the selection of crystal modification during epitaxy of iPBu is determined by the synergistic effect of its crystallization kinetics, as well as the lattice matching and interfacial tension of it with different substrates. This work may be of great significance for the in-depth understanding of the crystal modification selection rule in epitaxy and precise substrate selection to manipulate specific crystal modification of polymorphic polymers.