Effect of Molecular Architecture on Conformational Relaxation of Polymer Chains at Interfaces

Abstract

Dynamics of polymer chains near an interface with an inorganic material are believed to strongly affect the physical properties of polymers in nanocomposites and thin films. An effect of molecular architecture on the conformational relaxation behavior of polystyrene (PS) chains at the quartz interface using sum‐frequency generation spectroscopy is reported here. The relaxation dynamics of chains in direct contact with the quartz interface is slower with a star‐shaped architecture than that with its linear counterpart. The extent of the delay becomes more pronounced with increasing number of arms. This can be explained in terms of the superior interfacial activity to the quartz surface for the star‐shaped PS.

Designing high performance polymer nanocomposites by incorporating robustness-controlled polymeric nanoparticles: insights from molecular dynamics

“…Their study on star-shaped poly(ethylene oxide) and atactic polystyrene fulfilled the gap between the systems studied experimentally and computationally. Nguyen et al 24 investigated the effect of arms of polystyrene on the relaxation behavior near the interface of quartz. They discovered that polystyrene in direct contact with the interface relaxed more slowly than its linear counterpart, and the extent of the slow down increased by increasing the arm functionality from 3 to 8.…”