Conformation of a chain polyelectrolyte in solution with low molecular weight salt: small angle neutron scattering measurements

Small angle neutron scattering measurements have been carried out on the tetramethylammonium salt of the polystyrenesulfonic acid withDP _w =310 and 1060 in water solution with tetramethylammonium chloride with ionic strength between 0.02 M and 1.0 M. The scattering curves in the scattering vector range 0.05 nm^–1Q1.8nm^–1 have been fitted using the form factor of a worm-like chain of finite thickness. The conformational parameters mean square radius of gyration, statistic chain element, mass per unit length and mean square radius of the cross-section have been determined experimentally and used for describing the conformation of the coils. By these molecular weights and ionic strengths, excluded volume is not necessary to explain the conformation changes depending on the salt content of the solutions; relatively short coil molecules can be described in their unperturbed dimensions even in a thermodynamically good solvent: a change in the stiffness of the chain according to Odijk's theory succeeds in describing the conformation of the polyions. Together with a slow decrease of the coil dimension by increasing salt content, a transition at ionic strength 0.1–0.5 M between two different conformations has been observed. The conformation at lower ionic strength is characterized by higher stiffness of the chain and lower mass per unit length than the form at higher salt concentration.     

Chain conformation of rod-like polymers in the melt: Small-angle neutron scattering of poly(benzoyl paraphenylene)

The chain conformation of a rigid rod polymer, poly(benzoyl paraphenylene), is determined in the melt using small-angle neutron scattering. The coherent scattering cross-section from blends of partially deuterated and hydrogenous poly(benzoyl paraphenylene) agree well with ideal rod scattering for q > 0.02 Å⁻¹, indicating that the polymer chains are highly extended. Comparison of the results to a single chain-scattering function for chains of arbitrary stiffness yield a persistence length of ca. 130 Å. Pure component scattering at the lowest scattering lengths indicate that the melt is not molecularly homogenous, but is comprised of domains, potentially reflecting localized groupings of chains with similar backbone orientation. Furthermore, this mesoscopic structure depends on the processing history of the polymer in the melt state. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J. Polym. Sci. B Polym. Phys. 36: 2449–2459, 1998     

Small‐angle neutron scattering investigation of structural changes in nafion membranes induced by swelling with various solvents

The structure of Nafion‐117 perfluorosulfonate ionomer membranes was investigated with small‐angle neutron scattering techniques. Structural changes induced by the swelling of the membranes with water, alcohols, and dipolar, aprotic solvents were monitored at solvent‐swelling levels ranging from approximately 2 vol % to greater than 50 vol %. Membranes swollen up to approximately 50 vol % solvent exhibited two scattering maxima, one known to be associated with ionic regions of the membrane structure and one known to be associated with correlation distances between crystalline regions in the membrane structure. The positions of both maxima shifted toward lower scattering vector values as the solvent content in the membrane increased. The shift in the position of both maxima was linearly related to the solvent volume fraction in the membrane. The Bragg spacings corresponding to both the ionic‐feature scattering maximum and the crystalline‐feature scattering maximum were plotted versus the solvent volume fraction in the membranes, and the data fit with linear regression. The slopes associated with the curves of the spacing versus the solvent volume fraction were greater for the crystalline‐feature spacing than for the ionic‐feature spacing for all solvents other than water; this was indicative of preferential segregation of nonaqueous solvents into regions of the structure not directly associated with the ionic scattering maximum. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 40: 387–400, 2002; DOI 10.1002/polb.10092     

Tetraalkylammonium bromides in methanol: Small angle neutron scattering and vapor pressure measurements

Vapor pressure measurements and small angle scattering (SANS) experiments are reported and discussed for bispiperidinium (BP) bromide and n-tetrapentylammonium bromide solutions in methanol at 25°C. The BP⁺ ion which may be considered as a tetraalkylammonium (TAA) ion with pairwise connected alkyl chains, is used for the study of the effects due to flexible TAA alkyl chains. SANS intensities are calibrated with the help of the precise osmotic coefficients from the vapor pressure measurements.     

Application of interface distribution functions to the evaluation of the small angle x-ray scattering of multicomponent polymer systems

A method for correcting the small angle x-ray intensity of multi-component polymer systems to compute the interface distribution function is presented. The resolution of this function can be improved to a great extent by evaluating the interference function from the measured intensity corrected for fluctuation scattering by use of a function which is proportional to the gas scattering of the investigated system. The method is applied successfully to polymer blends composed of components having similar morphology.Presented at the Spring Meeting of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, Hamburg, March 14–16, 1988.     

Small‐angle neutron scattering analysis of bottlebrush backbone and side chain flexibility

Bottlebrush polymers have densely tethered side chains grafted to a linear polymer backbone, resulting in stretching of both the side chains and backbone. Prior studies have reported that the side chains are only weakly stretched while the backbone is highly elongated. Here, scaling laws for the bottlebrush backbone and side chains are determined through small‐angle neutron scattering analysis of a systematic series of poly(lactic acid) bottlebrush polymers synthesized via a “grafting‐through” ring‐opening polymerization. Scattering profiles are modeled with the empirical Guinier–Porod, rigid cylinder, and flexible cylinder models. Side chains are found to be only weakly stretched, with an end‐to‐end distance proportional to N^0.55, while the overall bottlebrush increases in size proportional to N^0.77. These results demonstrate that the bottlebrush backbone is not fully extended and that both side chains and backbone have significant conformational flexibility in solution. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2017 , 55, 104–111     

Small angle neutron scattering and its application in battery systems

Small angle neutron scattering is a powerful, non-destructive technique that can provide both structural and compositional information. Recently, it has been applied to the field of battery research and has helped elucidate some of the phenomena that are traditionally difficult to probe, including lithiation mechanisms, solid electrolyte interface formation/composition, and electrode microstructure. Specific components of interest can be selectively probed through the application of targeted experiments, contrast variation, and specific composition/structural models gained from complementary data from other analytical techniques.     

A small angle neutron scattering and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy study of the nanostructure of the iron chalcogenide glass ion-selective electrode

This paper presents a preliminary structural and interfacial study of the iron chalcogenide glass [i.e., Fe_x(Ge₂₈Sb₁₂Se₆₀)_100−x] ion-selective electrode (ISE) using small angle neutron scattering (SANS) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). SANS detected variations in the neutron scattering as a function of iron content in the chalcogenide glass. Furthermore, a change in the chalcogenide glass structure was observed at elevated iron dopant levels. Conversely, EIS was used to show that the iron chalcogenide membrane comprises various time constants, and the interfacial charge transfer reaction depends on the membrane iron content. Equivalent circuit modeling revealed that the charge transfer resistance decreases at elevated iron levels, and this may be related to the presence of iron defects in the glass. It is proposed that the iron chalcogenide membrane comprises an iron nanostructural network embedded in the amorphous matrix, and this directly influences the electrical conductivity and concomitant electrochemical reactivity of the glass.     

Controllable immobilization of proteins in quenched spherical polyelectrolyte brushes as observed by fluorescence spectroscopy and small angle X-ray scattering

The immobilization of lysozymes (pI = 11) onto anionic spherical polyelectrolyte brushes (SPB) which consist of a solid polystyrene core and a densely grafted poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS) shell was systematically studied by fluorescence spectroscopy and small angle X-ray scattering. Results show that the capture of lysozyme by PSS brush is a dynamic process, which involves a quick agglomeration stage and a slow rearrangement one. And lysozyme inclines to immobilize in the inner layer of the brush, and saturation of lysozyme adsorption onto the SPB is gradually reached as the protein concentration increases, proceeding from the inside to the outside of the brush layers. As increasing the pH and ionic strength, the lysozyme previously adsorbed will be partially released and migrate from the inner to the outer layer of SPB. Last competitive adsorption tests between lysozyme and BSA or β-glucosidase were performed, indicating that besides electrostatic interaction counterion release force also plays an important role in protein adsorption. SPB was proved to be ideal candidate for controllable immobilization of protein, which can be extended into various applications, such as drug delivery and protein separation. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2018 , 56, 1577–1588     

Small angle X-ray scattering investigations of thermodynamic properties of fluid mixtures

Absolute small angle X-ray studies of concentration fluctuations were performed in order to determine thermodynamic properties of a model blend, consisting ofn-hexane and perfluoro-n-hexane. The quantities which we determined were the second derivate of the Gibbs free energy of mixing with respect to the concentration of the components, the location of the spinodal, interaction and solubility parameters, the energy gradient density coefficient as well as the correlation length of the fluctuations at various compositions and temperatures, particularly in the neighbourhood of the spinodal and the critical point. The data obtained were compared with those obtainable from the well known location of the binodal, to test the reliability of the scattering method.     

Crystallization and chain conformation of semicrystalline and amorphous polymer blends studied by wide‐angle and small‐angle scattering

We examine the crystallization and chain conformation behavior of semicrystalline poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and amorphous poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) mixtures with wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction (WAXD), small‐angle X‐ray scattering (SAXS), and small‐angle neutron scattering (SANS) experiments. For blends with PEO weight fractions (wt_PEO) greater than or equal to 0.3, below the melting point of PEO, the WAXD patterns reveal that crystalline PEO belongs to the monoclinic system. The unit‐cell parameters are independent of wt_PEO. However, the bulk crystallinity determined from WAXD decreases as wt_PEO decreases. The scattered intensities from SAXS experiments show that the systems form an ordered crystalline/amorphous lamellar structure. In a combination of WAXD and SAXS analysis, the related morphological parameters are assigned correctly. With the addition of amorphous PVAc, both the average amorphous layer thickness and long spacing increase, whereas the average crystalline layer thickness decreases. We find that a two‐phase analysis of the correlation function from SAXS, in which the scattering invariant is linearly proportional to the volume fraction of lamellar stacks, describes quantitatively the crystallization behavior of PEO in the presence of PVAc. When wt_PEO is close to 1, the samples are fully spaced‐filled with lamellar stacks. As wt_PEO decreases from 1.0 to 0.3, more PVAc chains are excluded from the interlamellar region into the interfibrillar region. The fraction outside the lamellar stacks, which is completely occupied with PVAc chains, increases from 0 to 58%. Because the radius of gyration of PVAc with a random‐coil configuration determined from SANS is smaller than the average amorphous layer thickness from SAXS, we believe that the amorphous PVAc chains still persist with a random‐coil configuration even when the blends form an ordered structure. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 39: 2705–2715, 2001     

Conformation of comb‐like liquid crystal polymers in isotropic solution probed by small‐angle neutron scattering

The conformational characteristics of a comb‐like side‐chain liquid crystal polysiloxane (SCLCP), dissolved in deuterated chloroform, were evaluated by small‐angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements over a wide q range. SANS studies were carried out on specimens with constant backbone length (DP = 198) and variable spacer length (n = 3, 5, and 11), and with constant spacer length (n = 5) and variable DP (45, 72, 127, and 198). The form factor P(q) at high q was analyzed using the wormlike chain model with finite cross‐sectional thickness (R_c) and taking into account the molecular weight polydispersity. The analysis generated values of persistence length in the range l_p = 28–32 Å, considerably larger than that of the unsubstituted polysiloxane chain (l_p = 5.8 Å), with contour lengths per monomer comparable to the fully‐extended polysiloxane backbone (l_m = 2.9 Å). This indicates a relatively rigid SCLCP chain due to the influence of the densely attached mesogenic groups. The SCLCP with n = 11 is more flexible (l_p = 28 Å) than those with n = 3 and n = 5 (l_p = 32 Å). The cross‐sectional thickness increases with spacer length, R_c ～ n^0.21±0.02 (3 ≤ n ≤ 11), and the contour length per monomer decreases with increasing spacer length, l_m ～ n^?0.35±0.01. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 2412–2424, 2006     

Cure temperature influence on natural rubber—A small angle X‐ray scattering study

To analyze the natural rubber behavior during vulcanization under different cure treatments, an experimental investigation using small angle X‐ray scattering was performed. To achieve this, a set of samples were prepared using sulfur and N‐t‐butyl‐2‐benzothiazole sulfenamide as accelerator and then cured at temperatures between 403 and 463 K reaching their optimum mechanical properties considering rheometer tests. The crosslink density of the samples was evaluated by means of the swelling technique in solvent. In the usual Lorentz corrected representation of the X‐ray scattered intensity, a maximum was observed in the plots corresponding to the cured samples, revealing a highly correlated structure. This maximum shifted toward higher values of the scattering vector when the cure temperature of the samples increased. This behavior is discussed in terms of the crosslinks type present in the vulcanized rubber network at different cure temperatures. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 2966–2971, 2007     

Analysis of orientation fluctuation in fluids by small angle X-ray scattering

The small angle X-ray scattering of molecular fluids contains information on particular aspects of their orientational order. Examples are given for the case of the isotropic, nematic and cholesteric phases of mesogenic molecules. It is shown that the distribution of the molecular centers relative to the direction defined by the molecular long axes can be analysed by means of small angle X-ray scattering. An approximate expression for the circulation correlation function is given.     

Ultra-small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering study of colloidal dispersions

The ultra-small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering techniques are useful techniques for the investigation of colloidal systems. The very high small-angle resolution of these scattering techniques has provided important and novel information to elucidate the formation mechanism of colloidal crystals. The Bonse–Hart optical system is expected to become a standard tool for investigating mesoscopic structures.     

Small angle neutron scattering studies on non-aqueous dispersions of calcium carbonate. Part III. Concentrated dispersions

Small angle neutron scattering has been used to examine calcium carbonate dispersions in toluene over the w/w concentration range 5 to 40 %. The particles were stabilised by a combination of a surface active agent and a linear polymeric molecule. Analysis of the experimental data gave results for the structure factorS(Q) and the pair correlation functiong(r).Theoretical computations of the structure factor were made using a hard sphere model and the mean spherical approximation approach. These analyses indicated that the interaction was essentially soft at low volume fractions but became hard at the higher volume fractions.     

Structure of casein micelles I. Small angle neutron scattering and light scattering fromβ- andχ-casein

Casein is the main protein component of milk and is of remarkable colloidal stability. Under the influence of milk clotting enzymes casein shows the striking behaviour of coagulation. This clotting process has already been studied by other groups, neglecting the fact that casein is not a homogeneous protein. The purpose of the present study is focused, in this first stage, on the determination of the structure of the various casein components. In cooperation with other laboratories we have been able to obtain the well separated individual proteins. Studies have been performed so far with- and-casein. For detailed structural information we carried out small angle neutron scattering and combined static and dynamic light scattering measurements and determined the molecular weight,M _w, the radius of gyration, S ² the hydrodynamic radius,R _H, the-value and the particle scattering factor, P_z(q). The two caseins show a strikingly different behaviour. For the-casein we found a star-like structure, i. e. an aggregation pattern that is expected for a common micelle. The micelle consists of about 38 monomer chains. The aggregates of-casein appear to be composed of star-like submicelles, where each submicelle contains nine-casein chains and the total degree of aggregation is about 140.     

Effect of adding glycols to the micellar properties of Tween: small-angle neutron scattering and turbidity measurements

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and turbidity measurements have been carried out on the nonionic surfactants Tween 20 and Tween 80, in the presence of diethyleneglycol (DEG), triethyleneglycol (TEG), ethylene glycol monoethyl ether (EGMEE), and ethyleneglycol mono butyl ether (EGMBE). SANS measurements show that the shapes of the Tween 20 and Tween 80 micelles are oblate ellipsoidal, which do not change predominantly in the presence of DEG and TEG. However, the presence of EGMBE and EGMEE reduces the aggregation number of Tween. This has been attributed to the solubilization of EGMBE and EGMEE in the Tween micelles, providing them with additional hydrophobicity.