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.     

Grazing-incidence transmission small angle X-ray scattering from thin films of block copolymers

Thin films of lamellar and cylindrical block copolymers are popular systems for low-cost nanolithography. To be useful as nanoscale templates, the lamellae or cylinders must be oriented perpendicular to the substrate. Domain orientations are usually characterized by microscopy measurements of the film surface, but these techniques cannot detect tilted, bent, or tortuous domains in the film interior. We report a simple method to quantify out-of-plane disorder in thin films of block copolymers based on a variant of grazing-incidence small angle X-ray scattering (GI-SAXS). A typical GI-SAXS experiment illuminates the center of a substrate-supported film at a grazing angle of incidence (near the film/substrate critical angle), and the strong reflected signal is interpreted with the distorted-wave Born approximation. In a new approach, the beam footprint is moved to the far edge of the sample, allowing the acquisition of a transmission pattern. The grazing-incidence transmission data are interpreted with the simple Born approximation, and out-of-plane defects are quantified through analysis of crystal truncation rods and partial Debye-Scherrer rings. Significantly, this study demonstrates that grazing-incidence transmission small angle X-ray scattering can detect and quantify the buried defect structure in thin films of block copolymers. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2013     

Small angle scattering of partially oriented polymers

Summary A general method for the calculation of the small angle scattering pattern of partially oriented polymers with rotational symmetry about the fiber axis is explained. The method can be used with widely varying models for the basic scattering unit.

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Zusammenfassung Es wird eine allgemeine Methode zur Berechnung des Kleinwinkelstreudiagramms von partiell orientierten Polymeren mit Rotationssymmetrie bezüglich der Faserachse angegeben. Als Modell für die streuende Grundeinheit können die verschiedensten Strukturen verwendet werden.

     

Small angle x-ray scattering study of ultra-high molecular weight poly(ethylene oxide) gamma irradiated in bulk

The effect of gamma irradiation on the structure of ultra-high molecular weight poly(ethylene oxide) (UHMWPEO) has been investigated by small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS). The pressed and irradiated polymer possesses quite strong diffuse scattering. That fact makes the direct determination of the main structural parameters very difficult. To solve the problem a modification of the standard evaluating methods is suggested. Thus, the separation of the porous scattering from that of structural formations of PEO becomes possible. The application of a collimation correction according to Schmidt's method enables to separate diffuse and discrete parts in the scattering. Dependences of the long period, the gyration radii, and the difference between densities of crystalline and amorphous phases on the irradiation dose show that the irradiation increases the density of amorphous areas. A packing of the lamellar aggregates and increase of the porous sizes are observed.     

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 Study of PS Conformation in Tetrahydrofuran Solvent with Gas Anti-solvent

Compressed gases or supercritical fluids (SCFs) are highly soluble in some liquid solvents, and thus reduces the solvent strength of the liquids1. As a result, precipitation of the dissolved solutes occurs, which is called as gas anti-solvent (GAS) process. Recently, this new technique has been used to produce fine particles of different compounds, such as polymers2. Effect of the dissolved gases on the conformation of polymer molecules is a very interesting topic. In this work, we report t…     

Small angle scattering of partially oriented polymers: model calculations with monoclinic macrolattice

A three-dimensional monoclinic paracrystalline macrolattice is used to calculate the small angle X-ray scattering pattern of partially oriented polymers with rotational symmetry about the fiber axis. The influence of the crystallite size, the lattice parameters, the lattice distortions and the orientation relative to the fiber axis on the diffraction patterns is studied.Dedicated to Prof. R. Bonart on the occasion of his 60th birthday.     

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.     

CdSe quantum dots in chiral smectic C matrix: experimental evidence of smectic layer distortion by small and wide angle X-ray scattering and subsequent effect on electro-optical parameters

CdSe quantum dots (QDs) dispersed ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) has been subjected to small and wide-angle X-ray scattering and atomic force microscopy to understand the molecular organization in chiral smectic C (SmC*) phase. SAXS indicates that the presence of QDs causes enhancement in the smectic layer separation. The smectic order parameter for neat FLC and FLC–QDs mixtures is obtained in the range of 0.6 to 0.85. Both smectic order parameter and structural tilt are found to be lesser for FLC–QDs mixtures as compared to neat FLC. The insertion of QDs in SmC* matrix causes localized smectic layer distortion in such a way that spontaneous polarization remains almost the same but the electro-optic switching of molecules becomes faster. We have outlined the superiority of FLC–QDs mixtures for electrical energy storage and their suitability in electronic devices.     

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.     

Characterization of the gel structure in a nonionic ointment by small angle X-ray diffraction

The structure of systems containing equal weights of cetylalcohol, stearylalcohol and the nonionic surfactant poly(oxyethylene)₂₀-glycerolmonostearate is studied as a function of the water concentration. In this paper mainly results are presented obtained by small angle X-ray-diffraction. Up to ± 22% (w/w) water several coexisting phases were observed. From ± 22% to ± 55% water a lamellar structure is found. This structure consists of lipophilic bilayers formed by the hydrocarbon tails of cetylalcohol, stearylalcohol and the surfactant, alternated by hydrophilic layers formed by the polyoxyethylene glycerol chains, the hydroxyl groups of cetylalcohol and stearylalcohol and water. From the swelling behaviour the density of the gel structure (0.9 g/cm³) and the cross sectional area of the molecules in the bilayers (0.19 nm²) have been calculated. It is concluded that the hydrocarbon chains are in a crystalline, state and are placed perpendicular to the lattice plane. Upwards of ± 55% water the lamellar phase disperses in the excess of water.     

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.     

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.     

A hierarchical algorithm for fast debye summation with applications to small angle scattering

Debye summation, which involves the summation of sinc functions of distances between all pair of atoms in three‐dimensional space, arises in computations performed in crystallography, small/wide angle X‐ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS), and small angle neutron scattering (SANS). Direct evaluation of Debye summation has quadratic complexity, which results in computational bottleneck when determining crystal properties, or running structure refinement protocols that involve SAXS or SANS, even for moderately sized molecules. We present a fast approximation algorithm that efficiently computes the summation to any prescribed accuracy ? in linear time. The algorithm is similar to the fast multipole method (FMM), and is based on a hierarchical spatial decomposition of the molecule coupled with local harmonic expansions and translation of these expansions. An even more efficient implementation is possible when the scattering profile is all that is required, as in small angle scattering reconstruction (SAS) of macromolecules. We examine the relationship of the proposed algorithm to existing approximate methods for profile computations, and show that these methods may result in inaccurate profile computations, unless an error‐bound derived in this article is used. Our theoretical and computational results show orders of magnitude improvement in computation complexity over existing methods, while maintaining prescribed accuracy. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Characteristic lengths and the structure of salt free polyelectrolyte solutions. A small angle neutron scattering study

We have studied salt free semi dilute polyelectrolyte solutions by small angle neutron scattering. Specific labelling associated with an extrapolation method has allowed the separation of the form factor of a single polyelectrolyte chainS ₁(q) and the structure factorS ₂(q). Two lengths are deduced from these two factors: the persistence lengthb _t which characterizes the electrostatic interactions along the chain by a fitting ofS ₁(q) with calculation of the scattering function for a wormlike chain, and fromS ₂(q),q _m ^–1 which characterizes the interactions between chains. These two lengths vary in the same way with the concentration of polyions (b _t C _p ^–1/2 ,q _m ^–1 C _p ^–1/2 ) and a constant relation exists between them: only one length is then necessary to describe the structure of polyelectrolyte soltuion on this semidilute concentration range.Laboratoire Commun CEA-CNRS.     

Characterization of an energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence imaging system based on a Micropattern Gaseous Detector

An energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) imaging system based on a Micropattern Gas Detector has already shown good results for different applications. An X-ray tube, a pinhole camera and a Micro-Hole and Strip Plate (MHSP) based detector are the main components of the experimental system. The detector uses an MHSP in a Xe atmosphere at 1 bar, and acting as a photon counting device, i.e., it is capable to record each single event retaining the energy and the interaction position (2D-sensitive detector) information of the incident photon, demonstrating to be a promising device for EDXRF imaging applications. This work presents studies of energy resolution, energy linearity and spatial resolution/elemental mapping as a function of image magnification of the system.     

The effect of selected surfactants on the structure of a bicellar system (DMPC/DHPC) studied by SAXS

The stabilizing or disturbing effect of different surfactants on the bicellar phase of phospholipids significantly depends on their type. The effect of different surfactants on the bicellar structure made of a mixture of phospholipids 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine and 1,2-dihexanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-choline (DMPC/DHPC) has been studied by the small angle scattering of synchrotron radiation. The study has been performed for three surfactants: dodecyldimethyl-(hexyloxymethyl)ammonium chloride, n-undecylammonium chloride and t-octylphenoxypolyethoxyethanol (Triton X-100) introduced into a bicellar solution of DMPC/DHPC (2.8:1). The bicellar phase has been disturbed in the shortest time in the presence of dodecyldimethyl-(hexyloxymethyl)ammonium chloride in this system a transition from the bicellar to lamellar structure has been directly visible. The changes have been less pronounced in the presence of undecylammonium chloride and practically not noted in the presence of Triton X-100.     

Review of polystyrene diffusion studies in latex particles by small‐angle neutron scattering

This paper reviews small‐angle neutron scattering (SANS) and some results from direct nonradiative energy transfer (DET), for the observation of the diffusion coefficients of polystyrene chains at latex interfaces. To compare SANS with DET, doubly labeled polystyrene with deuterium and fluorescence groups were synthesized, showing that while SANS and DET produce comparable data in terms of diffusion coefficients, both results differ in detail, each having their own advantages. Chain confinement, ionic end groups, and short branch effects on interdiffusion were studied. Large polymer chains confined in small particles have non‐Gaussian shapes that store rubber elastic energy. Rapid, non‐diffusion relaxation is inhibited because the density would be required to become less than normal. Hence confinement effects on the diffusion rate are not significant. Using the DET method, ionic end‐groups were found to increase the early‐time apparent interdiffusion coefficients during film formation. The early‐time apparent diffusion coefficients of polystyrene with varying end‐groups were found to increase as follows: The higher apparent diffusion coefficients of the chains with ionic groups are presumably due to a surface segregation of the end‐groups caused by the polar, aqueous environment during latex synthesis. The interdiffusion behavior of sulfite‐ended polystyrene (M_n ? 300 000 g/mol) with H‐ends, one sulfite end, and two sulfite ends were compared via SANS and DET. The diffusion coefficients of polystyrene with one or two sulfite end groups were five times and ten times lower than that of polystyrene, respectively. The ionic end group effects on the reduced diffusion coefficients are interpreted as the competition between enhancement by the surface segregation of end groups and reduction by end group aggregation. Noting that sulfate end groups diffused faster, while sulfite end groups diffused slower, the effect is complex, and not yet fully resolved. Diffusion coefficients of polystyrene with branches were studied by DET. Short branches work to decrease the T_g and hence increase the diffusion coefficients. However, after the experimental temperature, T, is converted to a normalized temperature, T‐T_g, the diffusion coefficients are found to be almost independent upon the number of branches and the length of branches. The branch length ranged from one‐carbon to 40 carbons. Side chains of entanglement molecular weight or longer may be required to significantly reduce the diffusion coefficient. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A high‐sensitivity LIF detector with silver mirror coating detection window and small‐angle optical deflection from collinear system for CE

An LIF detector was integrated into a CE system based on silver mirror coating detection window and small‐angle optical deflection from collinear configuration. For this detection scheme, the incident light beam was focused on capillary through the edge of a lens, resulting in a small deflection angle that deviated 18° from the collinear configuration. Meanwhile, the excitation light and emitted fluorescence were effectively reflected by silver mirror coating at the detection window. The fluorescence was collected through the center of the same lens and delivered to a PMT in the vertical direction. In contrast to conventional collinear LIF detection systems, the fluorescence intensity was greatly enhanced and the background level was significantly eliminated. FITC and FITC‐labeled amino acids were used as model analytes to evaluate the performance with respect to design factors of this system. The limit LOD was estimated to be 0.5 pM for FITC (S/N = 3), which is comparable to that of optimized confocal LIF systems. All the results indicate that the proposed detection scheme will be promising for development of sensitive and low‐cost CE system.     

Configuration of bovine serum albumin adsorbed on polymer particles with grafted dextran corona

The configuration of BSA macromolecules adsorbed on the surfaces of poly(alkylcyanoacrylate) nanoparticles has been determined using small angle neutron scattering (SANS). The nanoparticles were made by anionic emulsion polymerization (AEP) and self-assembly of dextran–poly(isobutylcyanoacrylate) (PICBA) copolymers. They have a hydrophobic PICBA core and a hydrophilic dextran corona. In vivo, they are recognized by the macrophages of the mononuclear phagocyte system. The amount of BSA bound to the particles, at adsorption equilibrium, has been determined through immunodiffusion, immunoelectrophoresis, and SANS. For particles with a radius of 25.3 nm, the adsorption was found to saturate at 64 adsorbed BSA molecules per particle. The configuration of the adsorbed BSA molecules was determined from the SANS scattering curves, first at full contrast, and then at contrast match. Both experiments indicate that the BSA molecules are adsorbed on the PICBA core, in a flat configuration. This result may be important for understanding the in vivo opsonization mechanisms of nanoparticles and their resulting biodistribution.