Influence of Solvent Quality on Surface Forces between Polystyrene Layers Adsorbed onto Mica

Hsuan wei Hu, John Van Alsten, Steve Granick

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Force-distance profiles were strikingly sensitive to small differences in temperature and solvent composition. Surfaces forces were measured at 18 and 28°C between mica surfaces bearing polystyrene (Mw = 490,000 g·mol-1) adsorbed from dilute cyclopentane solution (θ temperature Tθ = 19.5°C). Forces at long range were monotonically repulsive at 28°C and mildly attractive at 18°C provided that a cyclopentane containing 5% linear pentanes were used. This contrasts with experiments in 99% pure cyclopentane, in which the range of detectable forces was (2-3)RG (unperturbed radius of gyration) at 18°C and (5-6)RG at 28°C, and the forces at long range were strongly attractive at 18°C and weakly attractive even at 28°C. A change of sign of the long-range interactions between adsorbed homopolymers, over a small range of temperature, does not appear to have been reported previously.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)270-272
Number of pages3
JournalLangmuir
Volume5
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 1989

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Materials Science(all)
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Surfaces and Interfaces
  • Spectroscopy
  • Electrochemistry

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