Size separation of macromolecules during spreading

Michael J. Barrett, Frank C. Sun, Alper Nese, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Jan Michael Y. Carrillo, Andrey V. Dobrynin, Sergei S. Sheiko

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Spreading of homogeneous mixtures of bottle-brush and linear macromolecules of poly(n-butylacrylate) on a solid substrate has been monitored on the molecular scale by atomic force microscopy. Despite the nearly identical chemical composition and similar molecular weight, brush-like macromolecules move markedly slower than linear chains. Moreover, smaller bottle-brushes have been shown to flow faster than the larger bottle-brushes, resulting in fractionation of the macromolecules along the spreading direction. This behavior was explained by the difference in sliding friction coefficient between the bottle-brush macromolecules and linear chains with the substrate.Atheoretical model of molecular size separation is in a good agreement with experimental data.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)15339-15344
Number of pages6
JournalLangmuir
Volume26
Issue number19
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 5 2010
Externally publishedYes

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