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 language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 15339-15344 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Langmuir |
Volume | 26 |
Issue number | 19 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 5 2010 |
Externally published | Yes |