Electric fields enhance miscibility of polystyrene/poly(vinyl methyl ether) blends

Abstract

How the presence of electric fields alters the miscibility of mixtures has been studied since the 1960s with conflicting reports on both the magnitude and direction of the shift in the phase separation temperature Ts. Theoretical understanding of the phenomenon has been hampered by the lack of experimental data with unambiguously large shifts in Ts outside of experimental error. Here, we address these concerns by presenting data showing that uniform electric fields strongly enhance the miscibility of polystyrene (PS)/poly(vinyl methyl ether) (PVME) blends. Reliable shifts in Ts of up to 13.5 ± 1.4 K were measured for electric fields strengths of E = 1.7 × 107 V/m in a 50/50 PS/PVME mixture. By using a sensitive fluorescence method to measure Ts, the PS/PVME blend can be quenched back into the one phase region of the phase diagram when the domains are still small allowing the blend to be remixed such that Ts can be measured repeatedly on the same sample. In this manner, highly reproducible Ts values at non-zero and zero electric field can be ascertained on the same sample. Our results agree with the vast majority of existing experimental data on various mixtures finding that electric fields enhance miscibility, but are opposite to the one previous study on PS/PVME blends by Reich and Gordon [J. Polym. Sci.: Polym. Phys. Ed. 17, 371 (1979)] reporting that electric fields induce phase separation, a study which has been considered anomalous in the field.