Asymmetry in Polymer-Solvent Interactions Yields Complex Thermoresponsive Behavior

Abstract

Thermoresponsive polymers hold both fundamental and technological importance, but the essential physics driving their intriguing behavior is not wholly understood. We introduce a lattice framework that incorporates elements of Flory-Huggins solution theory and the $q$-state Potts model to study the phase behavior of polymer solutions and single-chain conformational characteristics. Importantly, the framework does not employ any temperature- or composition-dependent parameters. With this minimal Flory-Huggins-Potts framework, we show that orientation-dependent interactions, specifically between monomer segments and solvent particles, are alone sufficient to observe upper critical solution temperatures, miscibility loops, and hourglass-shaped spinodal curves. Signatures of emergent phase behavior are found in single-chain Monte Carlo simulations, which display heating- and cooling-induced coil-globule transitions linked to energy fluctuations. The model also capably describes a range of experimental systems. This work provides new insights regarding the microscopic physics that underpin complex thermoresponsive behavior in polymers.