Commercial Sugar Alcohol Boosts Nucleation and Crystallization Ability of Poly(ethylene succinate) <italic style="font-style: italic">via</italic> Combination of Intermolecular Interactions and Epitaxial Templating

Hao-Ting Yin; Dong-Yuan Ye; Wei Zhao; Xue-Wei Wei; Xiao-Yu Meng; Hai-Mu Ye

doi:10.1007/s10118-025-3539-8

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Commercial Sugar Alcohol Boosts Nucleation and Crystallization Ability of Poly(ethylene succinate) via Combination of Intermolecular Interactions and Epitaxial Templating

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-02-13

- Commercial Sugar Alcohol Boosts Nucleation and Crystallization Ability of Poly(ethylene succinate) via Combination of Intermolecular Interactions and Epitaxial Templating
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 44, Issue 3, Pages: 781-791(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  a.College of New Energy and Materials, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
  b.Green Living and Innovation Division, Hong Kong Productivity Council, HKPC Building, 78 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon 999077, Hong Kong, China
- Author bio：
  
  weixuewei@cup.edu.cn (X.W.W.)
  yehaimu@cup.edu.cn (H.M.Y.)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-025-3539-8
  CLC：
- Received：23 October 2025，
  
  Accepted：16 December 2025，
  
  Online First：02 February 2026，
  
  Published：15 March 2026
- Accepted：
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Yin, H. T.; Ye, D. Y.; Zhao, W.; Wei, X. W.; Meng, X. Y.; Ye, H. M. Commercial sugar alcohol boosts nucleation and crystallization ability of poly(ethylene succinate) via combination of intermolecular interactions and epitaxial templating. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 781–791

Hao-Ting Yin, Dong-Yuan Ye, Wei Zhao, et al. Commercial Sugar Alcohol Boosts Nucleation and Crystallization Ability of Poly(ethylene succinate) via Combination of Intermolecular Interactions and Epitaxial Templating[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(3): 781-791. DOI: 10.1007/s10118-025-3539-8.
Yin, H. T.; Ye, D. Y.; Zhao, W.; Wei, X. W.; Meng, X. Y.; Ye, H. M. Commercial sugar alcohol boosts nucleation and crystallization ability of poly(ethylene succinate) via combination of intermolecular interactions and epitaxial templating. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 781–791 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-025-3539-8.

Hao-Ting Yin, Dong-Yuan Ye, Wei Zhao, et al. Commercial Sugar Alcohol Boosts Nucleation and Crystallization Ability of Poly(ethylene succinate) via Combination of Intermolecular Interactions and Epitaxial Templating[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(3): 781-791. DOI: 10.1007/s10118-025-3539-8. DOI：

摘要

This work reveals that D-mannitol exhibits a dual mechanism (epitaxial templating and intermolecular interactions) to boost poly(ethylene succinate) (PES) crystallization

outperforming xylitol and D-sorbitol

offering key guidance for exploring efficient nucleating agents.

Abstract

Poly(ethylene succinate) (PES)

a promising biodegradable polyester with cost advantages

suffers from inherently slow crystallization kinetics

which severely limits its processability and practical applications. To address this challenge

this study explored the use of commercially available

low-cost

and food-safe sugar alcohols

including Xylitol (Xy)

D-sorbitol (DS)

and D-mannitol (DM)

as effective nucleating agents for PES. Remarkably

all three polyols significantly enhanced the nucleation and crystallization ability of PES

with DM exhibiting the most pronounced effect. DM increased the crystallization temperature by up to 23.9 °C and accelerated the overall crystallization rate by more than 13-fold at only 0.5 wt% loading level. Through a combination of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)

polarized optical microscopy (POM)

and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) analyses

we revealed that DM promotes PES crystallization

via

a dual mechanism: epitaxial templating facilitated by excellent lattice matching

and enhanced chain adjustment through intermolecular hydrogen-bonding interactions. In contrast

Xy and DS primarily function through hydrogen-bonding interactions. This work not only identifies DM as a highly efficient

economical

and industrially viable nucleating agent for PES

but also provides fundamental insights into the role of the molecular structure and crystallization ability of nucleating agents in regulating polymer crystallization.

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Commercial Sugar Alcohol Boosts Nucleation and Crystallization Ability of Poly(ethylene succinate) via Combination of Intermolecular Interactions and Epitaxial Templating

DOI：10.1007/s10118-025-3539-8

摘要

Abstract

关键词

Keywords

references