Processes of Ordered Structure Formation in Polypeptide Thin Film Solutions

Crystallization of Poly(γ-benzyll-glutamate) in Thin Film Solutions: Structure and Pattern Formation

“…Solid thin films of PBLG (initial thickness h 0 = 50 ± 2 nm) were obtained by spincoating from chloroform solution (0.6 wt %) onto hydrophilic silicon substrates. Silicon substrates were used because interference phenomena of light reflected both at the film–air and the substrate–film interface, along with an appropriate color calibration, gave us the possibility to use an optical microscope (OM) for the determination of film thicknesses. , …”

“…Both, the experimental setup and technique used to create a thin film solution, in which nucleation and growth of PBLG crystals could be studied in situ, were described elsewhere. , In brief, the approach was based on placing the thin film on a Peltier element enclosed in a home-built chamber (see Figure a) which could be flushed either with dry nitrogen or with nitrogen saturated with solvent vapor. The Peltier element allowed to control the sample temperature (both cooling and heating were possible) and thus the amount of solvent which could condense onto a cold film.…”

“…Crystallizing PBLG molecules from thin film solutions allowed to employ optical microscopy for studying nucleation and growth of single, randomly oriented objects in real time. In previous studies of rod–coil block copolymers containing PBLG blocks as the rod parts , and also of a PBLG homopolymer, it was shown that the resulting objects were of anisotropic shape containing domains comprised of parallel stripes that were changing their orientation alternately, resulting in a zigzag pattern. So far, the internal order of these objects was not determined; i.e., it was not clear if these were crystalline objects.…”

Multifunctional Structured Platforms: From Patterning of Polymer-Based Films to Their Subsequent Filling with Various Nanomaterials

“…Polymer crystallization is a process of (partial) alignment of polymer chains in bulk films or solutions under specific conditions dictated by various physical and chemical parameters, including temperature [ 254 ], pressure [ 255 ], molecular weight [ 256 , 257 ], chemical structure [ 198 ], solubility [ 258 ], environment [ 259 ], type of substrate [ 19 ], etc. During crystallization, polymer chains may come together folded [ 260 ] or fully extended [ 256 ] and may form ordered domains called lamellae, which in turn give birth to spherulites.…”

Antimicrobial Polymeric Structures Assembled on Surfaces

“…These processes actually dictate the final properties of polymers in bulk, solutions, or thin-films [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Due to the potentiality to precisely control other processing parameters, such as melting, crystallization or glass-transition temperature, a polymer can display a highly tunable molecular ordering on multiple-length scales, ranging from nanometers to macroscopic dimensions that can generate a diverse landscape of nanostructures [ 16 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Further expansion of this landscape on the molecular, microscopic and macroscopic scales can be induced by favoring physical and chemical interactions of specific chain segments with their neighbors [ 15 , 16 , 23 ] or by degrading the phase purity through the addition of other (polymeric) components [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ].…”