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The persistence length of adsorbed dendronized polymers

Grebikova, Lucie ; Kozhuharov, Svilen ; Maroni, Plinio ; Mikhaylov, Andrey ; Dietler, Giovanni ; Schlüter, A Dieter ; Ullner, Magnus LU and Borkovec, Michal (2016) In Nanoscale 8(27). p.506-13498
Abstract

The persistence length of cationic dendronized polymers adsorbed onto oppositely charged substrates was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and quantitative image analysis. One can find that a decrease in the ionic strength leads to an increase of the persistence length, but the nature of the substrate and of the generation of the side dendrons influence the persistence length substantially. The strongest effects as the ionic strength is being changed are observed for the fourth generation polymer adsorbed on mica, which is a hydrophilic and highly charged substrate. However, the observed dependence on the ionic strength is much weaker than the one predicted by the Odijk, Skolnik, and Fixman (OSF) theory for semi-flexible chains.... (More)

The persistence length of cationic dendronized polymers adsorbed onto oppositely charged substrates was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and quantitative image analysis. One can find that a decrease in the ionic strength leads to an increase of the persistence length, but the nature of the substrate and of the generation of the side dendrons influence the persistence length substantially. The strongest effects as the ionic strength is being changed are observed for the fourth generation polymer adsorbed on mica, which is a hydrophilic and highly charged substrate. However, the observed dependence on the ionic strength is much weaker than the one predicted by the Odijk, Skolnik, and Fixman (OSF) theory for semi-flexible chains. Low-generation polymers show a variation with the ionic strength that resembles the one observed for simple and flexible polyelectrolytes in solution. For high-generation polymers, this dependence is weaker. Similar dependencies are found for silica and gold substrates. The observed behavior is probably caused by different extents of screening of the charged groups, which is modified by the polymer generation, and to a lesser extent, the nature of the substrate. For highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), which is a hydrophobic and weakly charged substrate, the electrostatic contribution to the persistence length is much smaller. In the latter case, we suspect that specific interactions between the polymer and the substrate also play an important role.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Journal Article
in
Nanoscale
volume
8
issue
27
pages
9 pages
publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry
external identifiers
  • scopus:84978254160
  • wos:000379489000044
  • pmid:27353115
ISSN
2040-3372
DOI
10.1039/c6nr02665f
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
827f405d-93ac-4395-a28e-e92f2b618c4e
date added to LUP
2016-10-12 23:20:54
date last changed
2024-03-22 07:44:57
@article{827f405d-93ac-4395-a28e-e92f2b618c4e,
  abstract     = {{<p>The persistence length of cationic dendronized polymers adsorbed onto oppositely charged substrates was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and quantitative image analysis. One can find that a decrease in the ionic strength leads to an increase of the persistence length, but the nature of the substrate and of the generation of the side dendrons influence the persistence length substantially. The strongest effects as the ionic strength is being changed are observed for the fourth generation polymer adsorbed on mica, which is a hydrophilic and highly charged substrate. However, the observed dependence on the ionic strength is much weaker than the one predicted by the Odijk, Skolnik, and Fixman (OSF) theory for semi-flexible chains. Low-generation polymers show a variation with the ionic strength that resembles the one observed for simple and flexible polyelectrolytes in solution. For high-generation polymers, this dependence is weaker. Similar dependencies are found for silica and gold substrates. The observed behavior is probably caused by different extents of screening of the charged groups, which is modified by the polymer generation, and to a lesser extent, the nature of the substrate. For highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), which is a hydrophobic and weakly charged substrate, the electrostatic contribution to the persistence length is much smaller. In the latter case, we suspect that specific interactions between the polymer and the substrate also play an important role.</p>}},
  author       = {{Grebikova, Lucie and Kozhuharov, Svilen and Maroni, Plinio and Mikhaylov, Andrey and Dietler, Giovanni and Schlüter, A Dieter and Ullner, Magnus and Borkovec, Michal}},
  issn         = {{2040-3372}},
  keywords     = {{Journal Article}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  number       = {{27}},
  pages        = {{506--13498}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society of Chemistry}},
  series       = {{Nanoscale}},
  title        = {{The persistence length of adsorbed dendronized polymers}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c6nr02665f}},
  doi          = {{10.1039/c6nr02665f}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}