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Surface organization of hyperbranched polymer molecules, as studied by atomic force microscopy
Author(s) -
Viville Pascal,
Deffieux Alain,
Schappacher Michel,
Leclère Philippe,
Brédas JeanLuc,
Lazzaroni Roberto
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
macromolecular symposia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.257
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-3900
pISSN - 1022-1360
DOI - 10.1002/1521-3900(200103)167:1<243::aid-masy243>3.0.co;2-1
Subject(s) - polymer , materials science , polystyrene , lamellar structure , molecule , nanometre , nanotechnology , layer (electronics) , atomic force microscopy , polymer chemistry , chemical engineering , composite material , chemistry , organic chemistry , engineering
The recent emergence of hyperbranched polymers has opened the door for the design of a large variety of novel, well‐controlled chain architectures. For instance, «comb‐like» and “dendritic‐like” polymers can be obtained from hyperbranched poly(chloroethyl vinyl ether)‐ g ‐polystyrene (PCEVE‐ g ‐PS) copolymers, with excellent control over the dimensions of the polystyrene lateral branches and the PCEVE backbone. In this work, the nanometer scale organization of these materials is studied by means of Tapping Mode Atomic Force Microscopy. We focus on the influence of the intrinsic molecular architecture of the hyperbranched PCEVE‐ g ‐PS on the organization of the material. In the case of thin deposits, we observe a layer‐by‐layer organization. On the free surface, it is possible to image single polymer molecules and to analyze their size in terms of polymer molecular weight. In most cases, the molecules are found to adopt an extended conformation and to form lamellar arrangements. We observe that the degree of lateral ordering of these molecules strongly depends on their intrinsic architecture.