Partial collapse and reswelling of a polymer in the critical region of good solvents

Journal Article · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2012 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.067801· OSTI ID:1049080

He, Lilin ^[1]; Cheng, Gang ^[2]; Melnichenko, Yuri B ^[1]

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1. ORNL
2. Joint Bioenergy Institute

Using small-angle neutron scattering, we explored the conformational behavior of a polymer in a mixture of good solvents near their critical demixing temperature T{sub c}. Experiments at full and zero average neutron contrast were used to study the correlation length of concentration fluctuations {zeta} and the radius of gyration R{sub g} of individual polymer coils as a function of temperature T. The results confirm a theoretically predicted partial collapse followed by reswelling of polymer coils to the original dimensions as T {yields} T{sub c}. Reswelling begins when {zeta} becomes comparable to the R{sub g} of the polymer.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1049080
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 109, Issue 6; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
DIMENSIONS
FLUCTUATIONS
MIXTURES
NEUTRONS
POLYMERS
SCATTERING
SOLVENTS