Characterization of Response Frequency for the Pressure-Sensitive Paint Based on Fluorine-Containing Polymer Matrixes Using Oscillating Sound Wave Technique.

Five kinds of new homo-polymer and copolymers of methacrylate containing a fluorine ester group were synthesized and used for the binder of pressure-sensitive paint (PSP)to ensure the good compatibility between luminophore (Pt(II) meso-tetra (pentafluorophenyl) porphine (PtTFPP)) and polymer binder. In the work, we were concerned with how the structure of thesepolymers containing fluorine, especially the various ester group structure, affects the response frequency of PSP using oscillating sound wave technique. The results showed that the pressure sensitivities (Sp) of these PSP samples containing different polymers, exhibit some difference. The length of ester chain on the methacrylatepolymer affects the response frequency of PSP sensor layer composed of the polymer. The longer the chain length of the ester group, the higher the response frequency of the PSP sensor layer quenching by oxygen.

Molecular dynamics simulations of dendritic polyelectrolytes with flexible spacers in salt free solution.

We present the results of molecular dynamics simulations of dendritic polyelectrolytes in dilute salt-free solutions. The dendritic polyelectrolytes are modeled as an ensemble of regular-branched bead-spring chains of neutral and charged Lennard-Jones particles with explicit counterions. A wide range of molecular variables of the dendritic polyelectrolytes such as generation number, spacer length, and charge density were considered in the simulations. The effect of dendrimer size on relaxation time, the conformation of spacers, and the size dependence of the dendrimer on molecular variables are discussed and compared with a Flory type theory. The osmotic coefficients of the dilute dendritic polyelectrolyte solutions, as well as the profiles of monomers and counterions, are calculated directly from the simulations. Our simulation results show that the inner spacers of the dendrimers are extensively stretched, and the size dependence on the molecular weight deviates from the scaling prediction that assumes a Gaussian elasticity of the spacer.

Aggregates of polymer-substituted fullerenes.

We analyzed the self-organized supermolecular architectures observed in solutions of singly polymer-substituted fullerenes by light-scattering and fluorescence spectroscopy, as well as the surface pattern obtained from spraying the solution by atomic force microscopy. We found that the concentration dependence on aggregate size and fluorescence intensity can be explained quantitatively using a scaling argument, assuming that the aggregates in solution are self-emulsified micelles. Our results indicate that the core of the structure is unreacted fullerenes. Based on our scaling arguments, we predict that there is a critical molecular weight that allows for a narrow distribution of the self-assembled structures in solution.

Novel sintering behavior of polystyrene nanolatex particles in the filming process.

The filming process of polystyrene nanolatex (NPS) particles was studied by a combination of various methods. For a constant annealing time of 1 h, the AFM images showed that the deformation and interdiffusion temperatures of NPS particles were ca. 90 and 100-110 degrees C, respectively. In spin-lattice relaxation measurements of solid state NMR, it is found that T1L, T1S, and PL increased significantly after annealing at 90 and 100 degrees C for 1 h. DSC results showed that there was a exothermic peak near Tg after annealing for 1 h at the elected temperatures below 95 degrees C; otherwise, the exothermic peak disappeared after annealing at 100 degrees C or above. The apparent density of NPS increased suddenly in the temperature range of 90-110 degrees C. The results indicated that the macromolecules are highly constrained in NPS particles, leading to higher conformational energy, with more free volume and segments less restricted, which are the driving forces for the particles sintering at a lower temperature compared to the micro-PS particles with larger diameter.

Unforced translocation of a polymer chain through a nanopore: the solvent effect.

The authors have performed the Langevin dynamics simulation to investigate the unforced polymer translocation through a narrow nanopore in an impermeable membrane. The effects of solvent quality controlled by the attraction strength lambda of the Lennard-Jones cosine potential between polymer beads and beads on two sides of the membrane on the translocation processes are extensively examined. For polymer translocation under the same solvent quality on both sides of the membrane, the two-dimensional and three-dimensional simulations confirm the scaling law of tautrans approximately N1+2upsilon for the translocation in the good solvent, where tautrans is the translocation time, N is the chain length, and upsilon is the Flory exponent. For the three-dimensional polymer translocation under different solvent qualities on two sides of the membrane, the translocation efficiency may be notably improved. The scaling law between tautrans and N varies from tautrans approximately N1+2upsilon to tautrans approximately N with the increase of the difference of solvent qualities, and the crossover occurs at the theta temperature point, where a scaling law of tautrans approximately N1.27 is found. The simulation results here also show that the translocation time changes from a wide and asymmetric distribution with a long tail to a narrow and symmetric distribution with the increase of the difference of the solvent qualities.

Ewald Summation for Uniformly Charged Surface.

We have developed an algorithm to calculate the long-range Coulomb interactions for the slab system with a uniformly charged surface that is periodic in two dimensions and finite extent in the third dimension. This method, which is a modification of the three-dimensional Ewald summation with a correction term, is tested via molecular dynamics simulations of the adsorption of co-ions on the charged surface. The simulation results of counterion distribution show a good agreement with theoretical prediction especially at low surface charge density. Furthermore, we compute the force exerted on the particles for different systems. The consistency of results demonstrates that the proposed algorithm is applicable to the system with a smoothly charged surface in only two dimensions and is benefited from the widely used Ewald summation method in all three dimensions.

Supramolecular assembly of poly(phenylene vinylene) with crown ether substituents to form nanoribbons.

Poly(para-phenylene vinylene) with crown ether substituents (C-PPV) could form nanoribbons through supramolecular assembly with K(+) in dilute chloroform solution. The length of the nanoribbons increased with an increase in the standing time of the C-PPV/K(+) solution. Experimental evidence to support the interaction between K(+) and crown ether substituents was provided, and the growth mechanism of C-PPV/K(+) nanorods to nanoribbons was proposed. The influence of the length of the nanoribbons on the photophysics of C-PPV was also investigated.