原子力显微镜研究高分子超薄膜结晶机理及功能化调控

近十年来,随着功能高分子单晶(含单层或寡层片晶)工程及应用研究的不断深入,除了纳米尺度结晶形貌的表征以外,多功能原子力显微镜还被用于研究分子结构、结晶条件和后处理条件对功能高分子晶体性能(电、热、光、磁等)的影响,进一步还可采用扫描探针加工技术(机械刻蚀、电致刻蚀和热致刻蚀等)对其性能进行调控以构筑功能化聚集态结构和微图案.另一方面,超薄膜中单层或寡层片晶可为研究高分子结晶提供合适的模型体系,与原子力显微镜相结合,不但可以原位、实空间、高分辨地研究高分子的成核与生长过程(生长形态演变和生长动力学),还可以用于研究亚稳态折叠链片晶厚度和形态随热处理温度与时间的演化,从而加深对片晶内有序差异、片晶增厚与熔融行为和自诱导成核的认识.     

用共轭亚油酸构筑层状液晶的药物传递系统

在水相中用共轭亚油酸(CLA)及其钠盐(SCL)构筑层状液晶相, 并考察了其药物缓释行为. 借助偏光显微镜并辅以目测确定CLA/SCL/H₂O三元相图中的层状液晶相区, 然后用偏光显微镜、 小角X射线散射仪和旋转流变仪获得层状液晶的偏光织构、 相参数和流变参数等, 证实其适用于药物传递系统(DDS). 采用透析法研究了负载亲水性药物5-氟尿嘧啶或亲油性药物姜黄素的层状液晶的释药曲线, 结果表明, 该类层状液晶对2种药物均有良好的缓释能力.     

Lamellar Liquid Crystals of Brij 97 Aqueous Solutions Containing Different Additives

Lamellar liquid crystals of Brij 97 aqueous solutions were investigated by means of rheological techniques and SAXS at 25 °C, in the presence of various additives including isopropyl myristate, oleic acid, ionic liquid bmim-PF₆ and bmim-BF₄. The lamellar phases show high elasticity as indicated by their mechanical and discrete relaxation spectra, which is expected to be an advantage when they are used as drug delivery vehicles. It is noted that in comparison with other systems, the lamellar phase formed in the Brij 97/water/IPM system has the lowest storage and loss moduli, implying that it has a weak network strength and less stable internal structure. The Brij 97/water/oleic acid system is the most shear resistance, whereas the Brij 97/water/bmim-PF₆ system exhibits fluid-like viscoelastic properties to some extent. These differences are analyzed through SAXS data for the different location of the additive in the lamellar phase.     

Release of Mandelic Acid from O/W Emulsions with Lamellar Phases

The aim of this work was to prepare and to characterize stable O/W emulsions containing liquid crystals as vehicles of mandelic acid. Influence of some components on the behavior of the systems has been also studied. Particularly, the release of mandelic acid was compared from different formulations showing that the lamellar phases prolonged the active release and consequently they might reduce its irritation potential on the skin. Results of evaporation test suggested that lamellar phases contributed to increase the moisturizing action of these emulsions by limiting their water loss.     

Structure of crystals of nylon 6,3 and related polymers: Folding is stabilized by thermodynamic interactions

The n,3 polyamides have the structure: [-(CH₂)n NHCOCH₂ CONH-]×. Due to the stereochemistry of the malonamide unit, these polymers have a unique hydrogen bonding system with two different orientations at 120°: they do not form hydrogen bonded sheets as in conventional polyamides. We have obtained a very well oriented mat from crystals of this polymer which shows up to ten orders of the lamellar spacing. In this paper we analyze the structure of the fold in the crystal surface of nylon 6,3 and in related polyamides, including polyglycine. The thickness of these lamellar crystals is in agreement with the values determined for other polyamides. These results, taken together with some recent findings with other polymers, indicate that the thickness of polymer lamellar crystals may be thermodynamically controlled. An outline of this hypothesis is presented.     

Melt crystallized polyamide 6.6 and its copolymers, Part I. Melting point - Lamellar thickness relations in the homopolymer

The effect of isothermal crystallization temperature and time on the lamellar thickness and the melting behavior of polyamide 66 has been studied. Measurements were made of the melting temperature, crystallinity, and the long period. When calculated in the conventional direct manner, for samples crystallized isothermally, the calculated lamellar thickness was found to vary only from 2.4 to 3.2 nm over the entire range of conditions considered. When viewed in a non-critical fashion the polymer appears to conform to normal behavior including typical T_c vs. T_m behavior on a Hoffman-Weeks plot and apparent linearity in a Gibbs-Thompson plot. SAXS data indicates that there are only small changes in the lamellar thickness occurring over the entire crystallization range despite major changes in the melting point. Accordingly the Gibbs-Thompson plot shows major amounts of scatter, which are well beyond the experimental errors involved. The changes in melting temperature appear to be a result of changes in the structure of the fold surface on the basis of the conventional lamellar thickness analysis. In particular they appear to be due to changes in the character of the surface related to the hydrogen bonding and to the relative amounts of acid and amine segments present in the folds.When a more thorough analysis of the SAXS data are conducted, using a one dimensional correlation function approach, calculation of the crystal core thicknesses and “interfacial layer” thicknesses, a different picture emerges. In this case, the total lamellar thickness remains approximately constant at 2 repeat units in length with isothermal crystallization temperature, however, the core thickness increases with increasing crystallization temperature and time, from 1.5 to 2 repeat units in length, whereas the “interfacial layer” thickness is substantial at lower temperatures and times. When the core thickness is used in a Gibbs-Thompson plot the equilibrium melting temperature is found to be 303.7 °C (cf. 301 °C from solution grown crystals). However, the fold surface free energy is found to be 23.7 erg/cm² much lower than the value of 74.6 erg/cm² characteristic of solution grown crystals. Such a large discrepancy is believed to be a result of the highly polar solvents used in solution based studies generating the widely accepted “acid folds”. The difference may be because of a switch to folds containing six methylene groups from the diamine mer in the bulk case.Since the polymer is known to crystallize in the hexagonal state and reorganize during cooling to the regularly reported structure it is possible that the “interfacial thickness” is indeed a disordered surface layer within the crystalline lamella that originates from the precursor hexagonal phase during its formation, rather than the conventional disordered surface interpretation, applicable to polymers such as polyethylene. It is also possible that it is reflective of disorder induced in surface layers within the crystal due to the conformational changes occurring during this crystal-crystal transition. For these reasons, we prefer to refer to the “interfacial layer” obtained from SAXS calculations as an innerlayer.     

LAMELLAR STRUCTURE OF THERMOTROPIC LIQUID CRYSTALLINE POLYMERS

The lamellar structure of a thermotropic aromatic polyester with flexible spacer has beenstudied by using transmission electron microscopy. It was found that the lamellar structure couldbe observed in the crystalline samples of this semirigid polymer crystallized from different states.The thickness of lamellae is around 10 nm, which is similar to that of the conventional polymersof flexible chain molecules. The molecular chains in the lamellae are oriented in the thicknessdirection as determined by electron diffraction. The possibility of molecular chains folding in the lamellae has been discussed.     

Transmission electron microscope observations of fibrillar-to-lamellar transformations in melt-drawn polymers — I. Isotactic polypropylene

The transformation during heat treatment from a fibrillar to a lamellar morphology in highly oriented polypropylene is followed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and small angle electron scattering (SAES). While the as drawn films exhibit long (up to 1m) continuous fibrillar crystals, those crystals disintegrate into short crystalline blocks which finally aggregate into a lamellar morphology during the heat treatment. After even longer heat treatment the lamellar crystals start to thicken.Work supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung and Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftOn leave from Department of Chemical Engineering University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19711, USA     

一个低分子量聚氧化乙烯从亚稳态的折叠链片晶向稳态的伸直链片晶转化增厚过程的研究

报道分子量为5000的聚氧化乙烯(PEO)从熔融态淬火到液氮温度后形成的两次链折叠(2-FC)片晶增厚过程的研究结果.在升温和恒温条件下,采用小角X射线散射(SAXS)在位地跟踪了2-FC片晶增厚成一次链折叠(1-FC)和进一步成为伸直链(EC)片晶的增厚过程.通过对SAXS数据以及它们的一维相关函数的数据的分析,发现在52℃以下,2-FC片晶主要增厚为1-FC片晶;在52℃以上,2-FC片晶则主要增厚为EC片晶;在58℃到EC片晶的熔点的温度区域里,已经形成的1-FC片晶还会熔融,完全转化为EC片晶.利用偏光显微镜(PLM)和扫描电子显微镜(SEM)观察晶体的形貌,比如球晶,获得的研究结果表明,没有发生大范围的晶体破坏后再形成的变化,也就是说片晶的增厚过程是一个发生在球晶内部的薄片晶熔融后转化为厚片晶的过程.     

Thickness-dependent Orientation Structure in Poly（ethylene oxide） Multi-layer Crystals

Poly(ethylene oxide) multi-layer crystals were obtained and the re-crystallization behavior was studied to give insight into how melt thickness and temperature affect the lamellar orientation. For a special re-crystallization temperature, there exists a critical transition thickness range for the occurrence of edge-on lamellar orientation. Below the critical thickness, only flat-on lamellae were observed. While above the critical thickness, both flat-on and edge-on lamellae were found and the proportion of the edge-on lamellae increases with thickness. At low re-crystallization temperatures(below 30 °C), the critical transition thickness gradually increases from about 15 nm to 35 nm when the re-crystallization temperature was increased from 20 °C to 30 °C. However, when the re-crystallization temperature is above 30 °C, the critical transition thickness becomes constant. Our results demonstrated that the lamellar orientation could be specially modified by changing the melt thickness and re-crystallization temperature.     

Mechanical enhancement of melt-stretched β-nucleated isotactic polypropylene: The role of lamellar branching of β-crystal

Melt-stretched isotactic polypropylene (iPP) filled with different weight fractions (0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 wt %) of β-nucleating agent (β-NA) was extruded via a single screw extruder with a slit die and immediately melt-stretched at the die exit. The microstructure and mechanical properties (i.e., monotonic tensile, step-cycle and stress relaxation behavior) of these samples were analyzed. Unexpectedly, the lamellar branching of β-crystal, which is similar to lamellar branching of α-crystal, is observed in melt-stretched β-nucleated iPP. More interestingly, it is found that, compared with other samples, iPP containing 0.2 wt % of β-NA has the best mechanical properties. Through thorough analysis of various structural characterizations, the improved tensile strength obtained from step-cycle tests and viscous force obtained from stress relaxation measurements for iPP with 0.2 wt% of β-NA is ascribed to lamellar branching of β-crystal. The study is an example of preparing high performance polymers via practical polymer processing methods.     

Morphological investigations on the nanostructured poly(vinylidene fluoride)/polyamide 11 blends by high-shear processing

Nanostructured poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)/polyamide 11 (PA 11) blends of various compositions were prepared using a high-shear extruder. The lamellar morphology of the nanoblends consisting of two crystalline constituents was investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and temperature-variable small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The average lamellar long period and the thickness of the amorphous part for the high-shear-processed blends were larger than those for the low-shear-processed sample, indicating the molecular incorporations between PVDF and PA 11 upon high-shear processing. A novel scattering peak, corresponding to the long period of 25.2 nm, is observed when the SAXS measurements were carried out at a temperature between the melting points of PVDF and PA 11. The structural change with time at high temperature was investigated in situ by SAXS. It was found that the intensity of the new peak increased with time at high temperature and the peak position slowly shifted in the low-angle direction, indicating a gradual increase of the long period for PA 11 crystals upon annealing. The novel scattering peak originates from the enlarged PA 11 lamellar long period in the nanodomain because the peak cannot be observed for the same blends prepared by low-shear-processing. It is considered that the melt PVDF chains are gradually diffused into the galleries of PA 11 lamellae in the PA11 nanodomain, which enlarged the long period of PA 11 because of the more favorable interaction at high temperature. The chain diffusion can only occur from the interface between the PVDF and PA 11 phases, and therefore, almost no change was observed for the long period of bulk PA 11 crystals in the nanoblend.     

液晶模板法制备Au纳米线

利用非离子表面活性剂C₁₂E₄的层状液晶作为模板,以氯金酸(HAuCl₄)水溶液作为体系的水相和反应物,并利用C₁₂E₄中EO基团的还原性制备了Au的纳米线.研究表明,反应物的浓度、液晶体系的组成和反应时间都将影响产物的形貌.在适当条件下,可以得到直径约为20nm,长度达到几微米的均匀金纳米线,并探讨了纳米线形成过程中层状液晶的模板作用.     

A source of screw dislocation in polyoxymethylene crystals

Polyoxymethylene crystallizes as hexagonal lamellar crystals accompanied by spiral growth from dilute bromobenzene solution. Spirals of this polymer are formed by several mechanisms. There is discussion of various origins of screw dislocation due to interlocking of two independently growing crystals with crevices. After entanglement, various growth stages of crystals have been observed.     

Diffusion-controlled growth of lamellar crystals in an isotactic polystyrene–polyphenylene oxide blend

The growth rates of lamellar crystals grown onto preseeded fibrillar crystals (“shishes”) in isotactic polystyrene and blends of isotactic polystyrene (iPS) with polyphenylene oxide are followed by using transmission electron microscopy. The preseeded fibrillar crystals avoid the problem of timedependent primary nucleation. The time dependence of lamellar growth is investigated. At a concentration of 50% PPO in iPS, the lateral lamellar growth rate of the precipitating isotactic polystyrene crystals conforms to a time law characteristic of diffusion-controlled growth (R ∝ t^1/2). Diffusion coefficients are estimated from the growth kinetics. The method could prove a simple means of measuring diffusion coefficients in polymer blends in which one component is crystallizable.     

间规1,2-聚丁二烯结晶结构研究

以间规1,2-聚丁二烯(s-PB)为研究对象,通过原位同步辐射小角X射线散射(SR-SAXS)和广角X射线衍射(WAXD)研究其结晶结构的变化过程.SR-SAXS曲线中存在明显的散射峰,表明在等温结晶过程中形成有序结晶结构;在等温结晶后间规1,2-聚丁二烯的片晶厚度、微晶尺寸均正比于1/Tc∞-T,根据高分子结晶中介相机理可以做出合理的解释.     

A review of the rheology of the lamellar phase in surfactant systems

The rheology of the liquid crystal lamellar phase has been studied in a wide range of systems including non-ionic, anionic and cationic surfactants and block co-polymers. This review summarises the main advances in this area over the past twenty years and includes examples of the rheo-optical techniques, which help to elucidate the changes in microstructural conformation taking place in the lamellar phase during shear. Particular emphasis is given to the microstructural change of the lamellar phase from sheet-like bilayers to dispersed multilamellar vesicles (droplets). Examples of this transition are provided for both surfactant and block co-polymer systems. The review highlights similarities in the rheological signatures of the transition for different systems and also summarises the variation in behaviour of the lamellar phase at different surfactant concentrations and on the addition of salt.     

层状液晶微环境对水杨酸铜配合物SOD样活性的影响

溶致液晶是表面活性剂分子形成的有序组合体,体系中的水相和有机相都是空间受限的微环境,这种特定的微环境对一些化学反应产生很大影响［１,２］．液晶体系也可用以模拟生物介质．人皮肤上老年斑的形成,就是由于超氧离子自由基Ｏ·－２在其中发生歧化反应生成的产物而引起的．为了更接近于生物环境,我们以水杨酸铜配合物作为ＳＯＤ模拟物,并把它歧化Ｏ·－２的反应移植到结构类似皮肤的层状液晶中来,探讨微环境对此歧化反应的影响．１　实验部分１．１　试剂与仪器　由水杨酸和乙酸铜按一般无机化合物合成方法制备了水杨酸－Ｃｕ（Ⅱ…     

Study of crystal texture in pvc gels by x-ray diffraction and infrared dichroism

An enquiry is presented into the nature and origin of thermoreversible gelation of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). In line with a previous paper it is demonstrated by direct x-ray diffraction evidence that the origin of the gelation is crystallization, and that this crystallinity can be conspicuously apparent even for the usual technological polymer. In addition some unusual diffraction effects become apparent such as do not obviously follow from existing notions of the PVC structure. Combined infrared dichroism and x-ray studies revealed that these new effects are attributable to a two-component nature of the crystallinity where the components are distinguished by their orientation behavior, lateral extension, and possibly morphology of the crystallites. Some of the crystals orient with their a axes (type A crystals) and some with their c axes (type B crystals) along the stretch direction. Other more complex orientability differences are also manifest during film formation. Crystals B are smaller, and are believed to correspond to the network forming junctions, hence to fringed micellar crystals. Crystals A have a less evident connection with the network and are hypothesized to be of lamellar character, the behavior of which is closely simulated by lamellar crystal additives (stabilizer crystals). High-temperature x-ray work revealed no melting of crystals even in the temperature range where endotherms appear in the thermograms.     

Basic modes of three-dimensional polymer crystal associations: Interlocked single crystals and crystal halves

Tridimensional associations of lamellar polymer single crystals, grown from dilute solutions, are described as derived from their sedimentation patterns. These associations include interlocked crystals and decorating crystal halves. The origin of these crystals and their mutual orientation are discussed and tentatively interpreted by specific interactions between the fold surface and the crystallizing chains.