Neutron reflectivity of supported membranes incorporating terminally anchored polymers: Protrusions vs. blisters

The effect of terminally anchored chains on the structure of lipid bilayers adsorbed at the solid/water interface was characterized by neutron reflectivity. In the studied system, the inner leaflet, closer to the substrate, consisted of head-deuterated 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphorylcholine (DSPC) and the outer leaflet comprised a mixture of DSPC and polyethylene glycol (PEG) functionalized 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine. The DSPC headgroups were deuterated to enhance sensitivity and demarcate the bilayer/water interface. The effect on the inner and outer headgroup layers was characterized by w 1/2, the width at half-height of the scattering length density profile. The inner headgroup layer was essentially unperturbed while w 1/2 of the outer layer increased significantly. This suggests that the anchored PEG chains give rise to headgroup protrusions rather than to blister-like membrane deformations. © 2013 EDP Sciences, SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Self-assembled π-conjugated organic nanoplates : from hexagonal to triangular motifs

Organic semiconducting materials in confined geometries present interesting properties connected to change or coexistence of molecular organizations, depending on their characteristic scales. In this work the preparation and structural characterization of self-assembled π-conjugated organic nanoplates of 2,7-diperfluorohexyl-[1]benzothieno[3,2,b]benzothiophene are studied. These nanostructures were prepared by spin coating, implementing a fast precipitation method. We observed an evolution of the nanostructures from hexagonal towards triangular nanoplates, possibly driven by enhanced solvent/molecule interactions, and accompanied by the formation of a new polymorph

Interfaces and fluctuations in confined polymeric liquid mixtures: from immiscible to near critical systems

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PEG polymer brushes via Langmuir Schaefer technique: the transfer ratio

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How irreversible adsorption affects interfacial properties of polymers

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Dewetting of thin polymer films at temperatures close to the glass transition

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Kinetics of Irreversible Chain Adsorption

Recent experimental evidence showed a strong correlation between the behavior of polymers under confinement and the presence of a layer irreversibly adsorbed onto the supporting substrate, hinting at the possibility to tailor the properties of ultrathin films by controlling the adsorption kinetics. At the state of the art, however, the study of physisorption of polymer melts is mainly limited to theory and simulations. To overcome this gap, we present the results of an extensive investigation of the kinetics of irreversible adsorption of entangled melts of polystyrene onto silicon oxide. We show that the process of chain pinning proceeds via a first order reaction mechanism, which slows down at large surface coverage, and the adsorbed amount scales with the predictions of reflected random walk. We propose an analytical form of the time evolution of the thickness of the adsorbed layer with two well-defined regimes: linear at short times and logarithmic at longer times, separated by a temperature independent crossover thickness and a molecular weight independent crossover time, in line with simulations and theory. © 2014 American Chemical Society.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Measuring pearls size of hydrophobic polyelectrolytes

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Influence of the glass transition on solvent loss from spin-cast glassy polymer thin films

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Small angle X-ray scattering investigation of deformation in PMMA toughened with core-shell particles

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