Solvent-induced crystallization of spherical micelles formed by copolymer blends

We have followed the morphological evolution and crystallization process of spherical micelles formed by the mixture of polystyrene-b-poly(acrylic acid) (PS-b-PAA) and polystyrene-b-poly(2-vinylpyridine)b-poly(ethylene oxide) (PS-b-P2VP-b-PEO) (the core of the spherical micelles was made of P2VP and PAA blocks through hydrogen bonding in neutral solvent N,N-dimethylformamide, DMF) via DMF vapor treatment. Different phenomena, such as rupture of the film, formation of cylinder aggregates and regular square lamellae, were observed when the micelle film was treated in DMF for different times. At the early stage of annealing in DMF vapor, the micelle film became unstable and ruptured. Cylinder aggregates, within which the PEO blocks achieved the association and primary chain folding, formed as the mesophases before the nucleation of the PEO single crystals at this stage. Further treatment in DMF vapor resulted in the nucleation of the PEO blocks at the corners of quasi-square lamellae. Then a quite regular "sandwich" lamellar structure, constructed by a PEO single-crystal layer covered by two tethered layers of other amorphous blocks on the top and bottom crystal basal surfaces, formed when the film of micelles was annealed in DMF vapor for sufficient times.

External field induced crystallization of poly(3-dodecylthiophene)

In order to investigate the effect of external field on the crystallization behavior of poly(3-dodecylthiopliene) (P3DDT), the samples were recrystallized with different electrostatic field intensity, different pressure and different solidification direction in temperature gradient field. Measurements of differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction were operated to characterize these samples for analysis. The results suggest that after recrystallization, whether the external field is added or not, a more compact packing of molecular chains in P3DDT could be obtained without the change of the crystal structure model. Moreover, the addition of electrostatic field has greater effects on the crystallization of rigid main chains than on that of flexible side chains, Merely great pressure field can effect the rearrangements of molecular chains greatly. As for the temperature gradient field induced crystallization, different oriented solidification direction will lead to different effects on the compact degree and perfect degree of molecular chains packing,

Thermal influence on excimer-laser-induced electrical conductivity on polyimide film surfaces

The thermal influence on the electrical conductivity of polyimide film surfaces induced by KrF-laser irradiation was investigated, The formation of conducting phases was demonstrated to be highly temperature sensitive, as evidenced by strong dependence of the electrical conductivity on repetition rate and ambient temperature. XPS and Raman studies showed that the efficiency of the formation of conducting phases could be enhanced by the increase of temperature on irradiated polyimide film surfaces. After the disruption of polymeric chain, the carbon-enriched clusters remained on the irradiated polyimide film surfaces organized into polycrystalline graphite-like clusters responsible for electrical conductivity. The resulting dangling bonds from the decomposition process of polyimide acted as centers for the rearrangement of carbon-enriched clusters. It is suggested that the motion of radicals was promoted with increasing the temperature. Therefore the formation of polycrystalline graphite-like clusters benefited from high remaining temperature on the irradiated polyimide film surfaces. These results revealed that thermal influence played a dominant role on the formation of conducting phases.

Structural studies of excimer laser-induced percolative phase transition on polyimide thin film surfaces

The behavior of electrical conductivity for excimer laser irradiated polyimide films in the vicinity of the critical number of laser shots was described by three-dimensional percolative phase transition model. It is: found that electrical conductivity changed more rapidly than that predicted by the percolation model. Thus, the change in microstructure with increasing number of laser shots was analyzed by FT-IR Raman spectrometry and laser desorption time-of-flight mass spectrometry. It is demonstrated that not only the number but also the average size of graphite particles on the irradiated polyimide film surfaces increased with increasing number of laser shots. These results were helpful to better understand the critical change in electrical conductivity on the irradiated polyimide film surfaces. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Radiation-induced crystallization of polyamide-1010 containing heterogeneous nuclei

Radiation-induced crystallization of polyamide-1010 (PA1010) or nylon-1010 containing heterogeneous nuclei (neodymium oxide, Nd2O3) is discussed in this paper by Wide Angle X-ray Diffraction (WAXD) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The results show that at low dosage the crystallinities of the irradiated specimens increase, while crystallite size (L(hkl)) decreases, indicating that some new crystallites are produced in the course of irradiation. The new centers were brought about in the fold surface of the lamellae. Copyright (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd

MEASUREMENT OF SPONTANEOUS EMISSION BRANCHING RATIOS IN MO(I) TRANSITIONS BY LASER-INDUCED SENSITIZED FLUORESCENCE

I. TNTRODUCTIONThe emission spectroscopic method is usually used to measure spontaneous emission branching ratios. As emission spectra cannot be detected in atomic beams, the laser-induced fluorescence or ion detection method is often used. When the fluorescence method is used to measure branching ratios, it is usually necessary to detect

Theoretical study of determining orientation and alignment of symmetric top molecule using laser-induced fluorescence

General expressions used for extracting the orientation and alignment parameters of a symmetric top molecule from laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) intensity are derived by employing the density matrix approach. The molecular orientation and alignment are described by molecular state multipoles. Excitation and detection are circularly and linearly polarized lights, respectively. In general cases, the LIF intensity is a complex function of the initial molecular state multipoles, the dynamic factors and the excitation-detection geometrical factors. It contains a population, ten orientation and fourteen alignment multipoles. The problem of how to extract the initial molecular state multipoles from the resolved LIF intensity is discussed.