Publication Type
Journal
Journal Name
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
Publication Date
Page Numbers
4604 to 4609
Volume
15
Issue
13
Abstract
Frustration in chain packing has been proposed to play an important role in thermodynamic and
dynamic properties of polymeric melts and glasses. Based on a quantitative analysis using Voronoi
tessellations and large scale molecular dynamics simulations of flexible and semi-flexible polymers,
we demonstrate that the rigid polymer chains have higher averaged Voronoi polyhedral volumes
and significantly wider distribution of the volume due to frustration in the chain packing. Using
these results, we discuss the advantage of the rigid polymers for possible enhancement of transport
properties, e.g. for enhancing ionic conductivity in solid polymer electrolytes.
