Fig. 1: Schematic diagram of PEG (HO(CH2CH2O)nH), PET ((C10H8O4)m) and PEG/PET molecular structures. | NPG Asia Materials

Fig. 1: Schematic diagram of PEG (HO(CH2CH2O)nH), PET ((C10H8O4)m) and PEG/PET molecular structures.

From: Colossal barocaloric effect achieved by exploiting the amorphous high entropy of solidified polyethylene glycol

Fig. 1

a Single PEG molecule, where the black and blue dashed boxes denote the terminal hydroxyl groups (–OH) and the repeating units –CH2–CH2–O–, respectively. b Single PET molecule, where the blue dashed box denotes the repeating unit –C10H8O4–. c PEG/PET, where the molecular chain containing the aromatic ring in the middle is the skeleton chain PET, while the molecular chains around the skeleton are PEG. The black, pink, blue, red dashed ellipses denote the –OH, CH2 groups, C–O, O–H···O bonds, respectively. The purple dots represent the possible hydrogen bonds formed between the oxygen atoms and the terminal –OH groups of PEG. The configuration of line-type C–C σ-bonds in the PEG molecule causes the whole molecule to be highly flexible and has good conformational compliance with the rigid PET molecule so that the shape of the PEG chains can change with the shape of the rigid PET chains. The red, gray, and white balls represent the oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen atoms, respectively, in the PEG and PET molecules.

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