Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was employed to probe the mechanical properties of surface-charged polystyrene microspheres with 1-12 mol% of vinylbenzyl(trimethyl)ammonium chloride (VBTA) units. On the basis of Hertz's theory of contact mechanics, compressive moduli between 1 and 2 GPa were measured by the analysis of force-displacement curves captured on the particles via the force-volume technique. The deformation of the top of the polystyrene particles by the AFM tip was used to calculate the surface modulus. The compressive moduli are slightly less than the moduli of polystyrene bulk materials. The modulus of the polystyrene microspheres increases with an increase of the VBTA content.

Cadmium sulfide and cadmium selenide/cadmium sulfide core/shell nanoparticles stabilized with poly(cysteine acrylamide) have been bound to polystyrene (PS) latexes by three methods. First, anionic 5 nm diameter CdS particles were electrostatically attached to 130 nm surfactant-free cationic PS latexes to form stable dispersions when the amount of CdS particles was less than 10% of the amount required to form a monolayer on the surface of the PS particles or when the amount of CdS particles exceeded the amount required to form a monolayer on the PS particles. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed nanoparticles on the surface of the latex particles. Fluorescence spectra showed unchanged emission from the nanoparticles. Second, anionic, surfactant-free PS latexes were synthesized in the presence of CdS and CdSe/CdS nanoparticles. TEM showed monodisperse latex particles with trapped nanoparticles. Third, surfactant-stabilized latexes were synthesized by copolymerization of styrene with vinylbenzyl(trimethyl)ammonium chloride electrostatically bound to the CdSe/CdS nanoparticle surface. Brownian motion of the submicroscopic composite particles in water was detected by fluorescence microscopy.

Composition gradients, in molten AgNO3‐NaNO3 mixtures contained in silica frits, are produced by electrolysis between silver electrodes and analyzed by three methods: (i) in situ potentiometry, (ii) chemical analysis of sections of quenched electrolyte, and (iii) scanning electron microscopy with associated x‐ray fluorescence spectroscopy. The composition changes are calculated a priori from transport and thermodynamic properties independently measured in the free melt and corrected for the porosity of the frits. Since the ion flows in AgNO3‐NaNO3 are analogous to those in the normalLiCl‐normalKCl electrolyte of Li/S batteries, the former system serves as a convenient model system for the mixed electrolyte of the Li/S battery. The predicted gradients are compared to the experimental data from the three methods.

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was employed to characterize the surface chemistry distribution on individual polystyrene latex particles. The particles were obtained by surfactant-free emulsion polymerization and contained hydrophilic quaternary ammonium chloride, sodium sulfonate, or hydroxyethyl groups. The phase shift in dynamic force mode AFM is sensitive to charge/chemical interactions between an oscillating atomic force microscope tip and a sample surface. In this work, the phase imaging technique distinguished phase domains of 50-100 nm on the surfaces of dried latex particles in ambient air. The domains are attributed to the separation of ion-rich and ion-poor components of the polymer on the particle surface.

Four different quaternary ammonium chloride-modified poly(propylenimine) (PPI) dendrimers were synthesized by alkylation of a PPI dendrimer having eight dimethylamino end groups with 1-bromooctane or 1-bromododecane. By varying the mole ratio of alkyl bromide to dendrimer, averages of 4-10 quaternary ammonium groups were formed. The new amphiphilic dendrimers are surface active and are micellar catalysts in water. The dendrimers have critical aggregation concentrations between 8.5 x 10(-4) and 9.0 x 10(-5) M. Decarboxylation of 6-nitrobenzisoxazole-3-carboxylate at 25 degrees C was 650 times faster than in water alone in the presence of a dendrimer quaternized with eight dodecyl chains at a concentration of 2.45 mM in quaternary ammonium groups. The order of the catalytic efficiency of the new dendrimers decreased with the length and number of hydrophobic alkyl groups in the order (C(12))(8) > (C(12))(4) > (C(8))(10) > (C(8))(5). The pseudo-first-order rate constants for basic hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl hexanoate in pH 9.4 buffer at 30 degrees C using the (C(12))(8) and (C(12))(4) dendrimers were 26 and 13 times higher than those for hydrolysis with no dendrimer. The kinetic data were fit to a single-site binding model to evaluate the contributions of binding constants of reactants to the dendrimers and catalytic rate constants of the bound species to the overall catalytic activity.