Confinement effects in ionomers: a high-field pulsed electron spin resonance spectroscopy study

Abstract Confinement effects in ionomeric poly(isoprene) homopolymers and poly(styrene)–poly(isoprene) diblock copolymers have been studied by pulsed high-field electron spin resonance spectroscopy. The reorientation of paramagnetic tracers (spin probes) being localized at the interface between the ionic clusters and the polymer has clear uniaxial features. Evidence is given that the dynamical constraints on the poly(isoprene) chains in the diblock copolymer propagate over the whole chain consisting of approximately 170 monomer units or over distances of several nanometers.