Morphology Development in the Presence of Solvents

By solution crystallization or by sorption of suitable compounds (e.g., methylene chloride, toluene, chloroform) in amorphous SPS samples as well as in samples in the a form, clathrate crystalline phases, always containing s(2/l)2 helical chains, can be obtained [3,9,10,38,40-43], 

The lack of sharp reflections in the WAXD of the swollen film and the simultaneous development of birefringent regions were explained by assuming either a low crystallinity or a development during the swelling of a liquid-crystalline-like order. 

These authors actually refer to the usual 8 form as chlathrates and the swollen form as intercalates [53]. 

The crystallization of amorphous SPS films when induced by bulky solvents, whose molecules are too big to be enclosed as guest of SPS clathrate phases, generally leads to the formation of the y phase. Moreover, the presence of 

As a consequence of suitable treatments [55-57], guest molecules can be removed and all clathrate phases can be transformed into the nanoporous e phase [14], This phase was thoroughly studied by Guerra et al. and is described in Chapter 10 of this book. 

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