Data from: Electrostatic compatibilization of amorphous and semi-crystalline immiscible polymer blends

The rapid accumulation of plastic waste underscores the urgent need for
effective recycling strategies, yet conventional approaches are hindered
by the immiscibility of chemically dissimilar polymers, which
phase-separate upon blending and yield poor material properties. This
study demonstrates a versatile strategy for electrostatic
compatibilization, utilizing acid–base proton transfer between minimally
functionalized polymers. Waste-derived polystyrene (PS) was successfully
modified with < 4 mol% acid groups, while amorphous polybutadiene
(PBD) was functionalized with < 6 mol% diethylamino base groups and
subsequently hydrogenated to yield semi-crystalline polyethylene (PE) with
the same functionalization level as the PBD. In both cases, blending with
functionalized PS produced optically transparent, mechanically robust
films. Notably, increasing charge density from 1.0 to 3.5 mol%
significantly reduced domain sizes, indicating enhanced compatibilization,
while increasing PS molecular weight from 28 to 470 kDa led to a notable
three-order-of-magnitude increase in toughness. In PE/PS blends, the
preservation of crystallinity during melt reprocessing was achieved by
maintaining low functionalization levels, demonstrating compatibility
without sacrificing critical material properties. These findings establish
electrostatic compatibilization as a powerful, scalable platform for
creating high-performance materials from chemically diverse and mixed
plastic waste streams.