Macromolecules, Vol.28, No.16, 5512-5517, 1995
Conformational Transitions of End-Adsorbed Copolymer Chains at the Liquid/Solid Interface
Using the surface force apparatus, the conformational rearrangements of end-adsorbed diblock and triblock copolymer chains at the liquid/solid interface have been investigated. While the end-adsorbed poly(ethylene oxide)-polystyrene, PEO-PS, diblock copolymer "blushes" at a toluene/mica interface were seen to collapse upon the replacement of toluene by cyclohexane, rapid conformational transitions between "loops" and "tails" were observed for the end-adsorbed poly(2-vinylpridine)-polystyrene-poly(2-vinylpridine), PVP-PS-PVP, triblock copolymer chains at the toluene/mica interface during compression- decompression cycles. It was demonstrated for the first time that the newly formed tail-like triblock copolymer chains could be mechanically stretched beyond their equilibrium dimensions, a process which to some extent can be described by Rabin and Alexander’s scaling model. The dynamics of the conformational rearrangements was followed by surface force measurements at the molecular level.
Keywords:GRAFTED POLYMER LAYERS;BLOCK COPOLYMERS;GOOD SOLVENT;FORCES;SURFACES;POLYSTYRENE;BRUSHES;ADSORPTION;MICA;CYCLOHEXANE