ma400962p_si_001.pdf (239.52 kB)
Fine-Tuning the Structure of Stimuli-Responsive Polymer Films by Hydrostatic Pressure and Temperature
journal contribution
posted on 2016-02-18, 23:51 authored by Matthias Reinhardt, Joachim Dzubiella, Marcus Trapp, Philipp Gutfreund, Martin Kreuzer, André
H. Gröschel, Axel H.
E. Müller, Matthias Ballauff, Roland SteitzThe response of stimuli-responsive
polymer brushes to moderately
elevated pressure is investigated by neutron reflectivity and a thermodynamically
consistent density functional theory where pressure effects are included
by a hydrophobic cavity model. Evidence is provided that temperature
and pressure effects on the brush spatial structure are entirely antagonistic.
A ∼100 bar/K cancellation effect is found, which we argue is
a general feature for hydrophobically associating homopolymers and
serves for experimental guidance and fine-control of polymer film
structure. Our results also suggest that polymeric interfaces which
do not show a marked temperature dependence are also rather insensitive
to pressure effects for applied pressures below 1 kbar.