Polyimide is one of the most popular substrate materials for the microfabrication of flexible electronics, while polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is the most widely used stretchable substrate/encapsulant material. These two polymers are essential in fabricating devices for microfluidics, bioelectronics, and the internet of things; bonding these materials together is a crucial challenge. In this work...

This study addresses the crystallization and multiple melting behavior of a new high temperature semicrystalline polyimide, which is based on an ether diamine (TPER or 1,3 (4) APB) and BTDA dianhydride, both of which are commercially available. It also uses phthalic anhydride to endcap the chains thus improving thermal stability. The polyimide displays a Tg at ca. 230°C and two prominent meltin...

New step-growth graft block copolymers were synthesized. These two-sided comb copolymers consisted of a poly(amic ester) (PAE) backbone and pendant poly(propylene oxide) (PPO) grafts. The copolymers were made via a macromonomer approach, in which the 4,6-bischlorocarbonyl isophthalic acid bis[poly(propylene oxide)] ester macromonomer was synthesized through the reaction of hydroxyl-terminated P...

Polyimide is one of the most popular substrate materials for the microfabrication of flexible electronics, while polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is the most widely used stretchable substrate/encapsulant material. These two polymers are essential in fabricating devices for microfluidics, bioelectronics, and the internet of things; bonding these materials together is a crucial challenge. In this work...

This paper describes micromachined scanning thermocouple probes that exploit the low thermal conductivity and the high mechanical flexibility of polyimide as a structural material. They are surface micromachined using a low-temperature six-mask process suitable for appending to a CMOS fabrication sequence. The probes are 200–1000m long, 40–120m wide, and of varying thickness. They are assembled...

A new route to high-Tg, thermally stable polyimide foams has been developed. Foams were prepared by casting microphase-separated graft copolymers comprising a thermally stable main chain, polyimide, and a thermally labile graft, poly(α-methylstyrene). The copolymer compositions were designed so that the thermally labile block would be the dispersed phase. This can unzip to its monomer upon heat...

A stable system of enantioselectively recognising L-tryptophan based on β-cyclodextrin-modified single nanochannel fabricated in a polyimide membrane was demonstrated, and we realized the chiral recognition of an essential amino acid with this system for the first time.

N,N’-Bis(4-diphenylaminophenyl)pyromellitimide (TPA-PMDI) was synthesized from the condensation reaction of 4-aminotriphenylamine with pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA). The triphenylamine-diimide TPA-PMDI could be electrochemically polymerized into ambipolar, redox-active polyimide films on the electrode surface in an electrolyte solution via the coupling reactions between triphenylamine radical...

Polyimides are used as the outer layer of thermal control insulation blankets covering most of the external spacecraft surfaces that are exposed to space environment. The combined effect of ground simulated hypervelocity space debris impacts and atomic oxygen (AO) on the fracture of polyimide films was studied. A laser-driven flyer system was used to accelerate aluminum flyers to impact velocit...