Thickness decrease of a grafted polyelectrolyte membrane exposed to shear flow

The effect of the shear flow on the thickness change of a polyelectrolyte membrane grafted onto a glass substrate was directly investigated with a flow cell combined with a confocal laser scanning microscope. The membrane thickness decreased proportionally to an increase in the shear stress of the flow when the shear rate exceeded a critical value of 1 s^?1. The higher the ionic strength was of the fluid, the greater the thinning effect was. The correlation between the critical shear rate and the relaxation of the polymer in the gel membrane was examined. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 2808–2815, 2003     

Studying the structure of siloxane-urethane-ethylene oxide block copolymers

The structure of siloxane-urethane-ethylene oxide block copolymers is studied by means of atom force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The degree of copolymer crystallinity is determined by X-ray diffraction. A correlation between the obtained results is established.     

Atomic force microscopy imaging of novel macromolecular species,nanosponges, and their clusters

Atactic polystyrene of M = 330,000 Da and M_w/M_n = 1.04 was subjected to a complete chloromethylation. By heating the chloromethyl polystyrene with SnCl₄ in a very dilute solution in ethylene dichloride, the polymeric coils were converted into intramolecularly hypercrosslinked macromolecules, called “nanosponges.” These species have a molecular weight of about 370,000 Da and a diameter of about 17 nm. When in solution, the nanosponges display a tendency to reversibly self‐assemble into regular clusters. Preparative size‐exclusion chromatography isolates a fraction consisting predominantly of spherical clusters that are composed of 13 subunits and acquire a molecular weight of approximately 5.0 × 10⁶ Da and a diameter of 45 nm. Scanning atomic force microscopy (AFM) provides images of individual nanosponges, N = 13 clusters, as well as higher spherical clusters. The regular spherical species most probably belong to the cluster series N = 1 + ∑(10n² + 2), where n is the number of shells around the central nanosponge. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 37: 1451–1455, 1999     

Studying the structure of polysiloxane carbonate urethanes

The structure of amorphous polysiloxane carbonate urethanes is studied by AFM, SEM, and TEM. It is found that the polymer structure depends on the nature of solvent used for film casting.     

Bubble vortex at surfaces of evaporating liquids

Air bubble in volatile liquid on exiting to the surface spins a vortex maintaining integrity of the film over an indefinite period of time. The shear stress associated with the surface tension increase in the adiabatic evaporation cooling drags the warmer liquid inwards into the film counteracting its capillary drainage out under gravity. The chaotic patterns, visualized with the aid of light interferometry, depend on liquid volatility, degree of vapor saturation, and air convection. The circulation intensifies and the frequency of hydrodynamic instabilities in the multiphase flow increases on the transition to strong turbulent regimes with increasing evaporation rate. Self-consistency of the physical mechanisms of solute and evaporation inhibition of bubble coalescence is verified through dimensional parametric analysis.     

Shape of steps on the (010) face of orthorhombic lysozyme crystals

An attempt is made to explain the shape of the curved steps at the (010) face of orthorhombic lysozyme crystals and to determine the density, the rate of formation, and the velocity of kinks. The interpretation is performed in terms of the concepts developed in studies on the crystallization of long-chain polymers within the Frank model. It is demonstrated that this model is incorrectly generalized to the case of high kink densities. A algorithm for determining the coordinates of the growth front in images obtained with atomicforce microscopes is proposed and implemented.     

Peculiarities and mechanism of surface topography changes in photochromic cholesteric oligomer-based films

Detailed investigations of surface topography peculiarities for two cholesteric mixtures with photovariable helix pitch are presented. The mixtures were prepared by doping cholesteric cyclosiloxane with two chiral-photochromic substances possessing different handedness. Both chiral-photochromic dopants are susceptible to UV light-induced E-Z isomerization and changing of their helical twisting power. UV irradiation allows one to change the helix pitch values of the mixtures in a wide spectral range (~350–740 nm). AFM investigation reveals the specific peculiarities of the surface topography of the mixtures’ films (formation of “fingerprint like” topography or circular, spiralized domains depending on helix pitch). Quantitative analysis of the geometry of the domains (size and cross sections) allows one to find the correlations between photo- and thermally induced helix pitch values and surface features of the films. The handedness of the dopants does not affect surface relief topography. A mechanism has been suggested to explain the topographical changes under helix untwisting, which occurs upon slow cooling of mixtures films.     

Investigation of early stages of fibrin association

Interactions between fibrinogen molecules proteolytically cleaved with thrombin were investigated using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Gradually decreased fibrinogen concentrations were used to study the fibrin network, large separated fibrils, small fibrils in the initial association stages, and protofibrils. In addition, a new type of structure was found in AFM experiments at a low fibrinogen concentration (20 nM): the molecules in these single-stranded associates are arranged in a row, one after the other. The height, diameter, and distance between domains in these single-stranded associates were the same as those in the original fibrinogen molecules. DLS data assumed formation of extended associates in bulk solution at fibrinogen concentration as low as 20 nM.     

Study of the peculiarities of adhesion of tobacco mosaic virus by atomic force microscopy

The peculiarities of adhesion of tobacco mosaic virus to mica and graphite, in particular the mutual orientation of viral particles on the substrate and its possible effect on a virus, were studied using atomic force microscopy. Different versions of the chemical modification of a mica surface to enhance adhesion of viral particles were considered.Translated from Kolloidnyi Zhurnal, Vol. 66, No. 6, 2004, pp. 750–755.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2004 by Dubrovin, Kirikova, Novikov, Drygin, Yaminsky.