@zhigangsuo An elastic polymer chain that breaks under tension sees increase in conformational entropy and decrease in internal energy stored in over-stretched bonds.
A polymer is a material consisting of chains of repeating units.
This common definition, as well as popular models and schematics, misses the noncovalent bonds between chains.
It is the architecture of covalent and noncovalent bonds that determines function of a polymer.
New MONET perspective in JACS! Researchers from the Sottos and Craig labs speculate as to the potential match between covalent polymer mechanochemistry and recent advances in polymer network chemistry.
https://t.co/49j769dZ6D