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Recent Publications
The size of critical secondary nuclei of polymer crystals does not depend on supersaturation
Yang Liu, Zhiqi Wang, Yao Zhang, Tianyu Wu, Tianze Zheng, Bao Hua Guo, Günter Reiter, Jun Xu. Nature Communications 16 (2025) 3773
It is still a great challenge to determine the size of critical nuclei, which is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of crystallization and for testing the controversial crystallization theories. Here, we propose a method to determine the size of critical secondary nuclei on growth faces of poly(butylene succinate) single crystals in solution, basing on the probability of statistically selecting crystallizable units in random copolymers. In a dilute solution and for a given crystallization temperature, we reveal that the size of critical secondary nuclei was independent of supersaturation, contrary to the well-accepted prediction of existing theories which expect that the size of the critical nucleus increases with decreasing supersaturation. Accounting correctly for the dilution-caused change in the steady-state concentration of clusters of various sizes, we remedy inconsistencies of existing theoretical approaches in deriving the correct size of critical secondary nuclei in solution being independent of supersaturation. (more...)
Binghua Wang, Hailong Zou, Xuchen Wang, Changyu Shen, Jingbo Chen, Günter Reiter, Bin Zhang. Nature Communications 16 (2025) 3275
The dissolution of polymer crystals often proceeds at rates varying in time and space. Here, using low molecular weight poly(ethylene oxide) as a model polymer, we exploit step-wise selective dissolution for unveiling how spatial variations in metastability are generated during the growth of lamellar polymer single crystals. The dissolution velocity along defined crystal faces is constant, but ca. 5 times faster for rough than for smooth faces. From the temperature dependence of dissolution, we derive detachment energies of 420 ± 40 kJ/mol and 650 ± 50 kJ/mol for rough and smooth faces, respectively, suggesting that on a rough face polymer chains have ca. 1/3 less neighboring molecules to interact with. The observed high values of the activation energy indicate that, for dissolving a polymer crystal, the progressive detachment of whole chains is indispensable. Our study reveals a strong relation between growth kinetics and the resulting metastability of polymer crystals. (more...)
Baode Zhang, Snežana D. Zarić, Sonja S. Zrilić, Iosif Gofman, Barbara Heck, Günter Reiter. Communications Chemistry 8 (2025) 21
The interplay between attractive London dispersion forces and steric effects due to repulsive forces resulting from the Pauli principle often determines the geometry and stability of nanostructures. Aromatic polyimides (PI) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) were chosen as building blocks as two components in the hetero delocalized electron nanostructures. Two PIs, having the same diamine part and different linkage substituents between two phenyl rings of dianhydride part, one linked with ether bond (C-O-C) (OPI), the other with C-(CF3)2 (FPI), were investigated. Surprisingly, two CNT/PI nanocomposites show distinct failure mode from CNT yielding to CNT pull-out failure. Calculation of the interaction energy and chain conformations of each PI upon CNT was performed by accurate density functional theory (DFT) calculations and molecular dynamic simulation (MDS). (more...)
Valentina Pirela, Leire Unanue, Justine Elgoyhen, Javier Ramos, Juan Francisco Vega, Agurtzane Mugica, Manuela Zubitur, Cuong Minh Quoc Le, Abraham Chemtob, Radmila Tomovska, Günter Reiter, Jaime Martín, Alejandro J. Müller. European Polymer Journal (2025) 113721
This work studies how the chemical structure of relatively similar high-sulfur alternating polythioether homopolymers (DMDS-alt-DVE, DMDS-alt-TEGDVE, and DMDS-alt-BDDVE) affects their structural properties, morphology, polymorphism, and crystallization kinetics. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and polarized light optical microscopy (PLOM) experiments revealed a complex crystallization for the samples in which up to three different polymorphic phases were identified: a very low melting crystal form (VL-Tm form), a low melting crystal form (L-Tm form) and a high melting crystal form (H-Tm form), characterized by their corresponding melting temperature ranges and confirmed via Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering (WAXS). A coexistence of negative and positive spherulites was found, and their origin was revealed by atomic force microscopy (AFM), which showed how the lamellar arrangement varied in the samples from predominantly radial to a cross-hatched morphology. (more...)
List of Publications
- Avantages de la réflectometrie des neutrons pour l’étude des polymères en couches minces
- Günter Reiter, Mark Geoghegan. Collection SFN 8, 103-113 (2007)
- Morphologies of Polymer Crystals in Thin Films
- Günter Reiter, Ioan Botiz, Laetitia Graveleau, Nikolay Grozev, Krystyna Albrecht, Ahmed Mourran, Martin Möller. In "Progress in Understanding Polymer Crystallization". Eds. Günter Reiter and Gert Strobl, Lect. Notes Phys. 714, 179-200 (2007)
- Influence of Substrate Properties on the Dewetting Dynamics of Viscoelastic Polymer Films
- Moustafa Hamieh, Samer Al Akhrass, Tayssir Hamieh, Pascal Damman, Sylvain Gabriele, Thomas Vilmin, Elie Raphaël, Günter Reiter. J. Adhes. 83, 367-381 (2007)
- The Physics of Polymers, Concepts for Understanding Their Structures and Behavior.
- Gert Strobl. Third Revised and Expanded Edition, Springer 2007, ISBN 978-3-540-25278-8
- Growth kinetics of polymer crystals in bulk
- G. Strobl and T. Y. Cho. Eur. Phys. J. E 23, 55 (2007)
- A law controlling polymer recrystallization showing up in experiments on s-polypropylene
- Barbara Heck, Silvia Siegenführ, Gert Strobl and Ralf Thomann. Polymer, 48, 1352-1359 (2007)
- Stabilization, Reformation and Melting of Poly(L-Lactide) Crystallites
- Tai-Yon Cho, Barbara Heck, Gert Strobl. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 25, 83 (2007)
- The role of Frank elasticity in cholesteric elastomers
- Werner Stille, Jürgen Schmidtke. Eur. Phys. J. E 22, 117 (2007)
- Investigation of polymer crystallization kinetics with time dependent light attenuation measurements
- J. Fritsch, W. Stille, G. Strobl. Colloid Polym. Sci. 284, 620 (2006)
- Viscoelastic dewetting of constrained polymer thin films
- Pascal Damman, Séverine Sclavons, Sylvain Gabriele, Sylvain Desprez, Günter Reiter, Moustafa Hamieh, Samer Al Akhrass, Thomas Vilmin, Elie Raphaël. Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics 44, 3022-3030 (2006)
- Lamellar Crystal Orientations Biased by Crystallization Kinetics in Polymer Thin Films
- Yu Ma, Wenbing Hu, Günter Reiter. Macromolecules 39, 5159-5164 (2006)
- Disentanglement Time of Polymers Determines the Onset of Rim Instabilities in Dewetting
- Sylvain Gabriele, Séverine Sclavons, Günter Reiter, Pascal Damman. Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 156105 (2006)
- The Formation of Ordered Polymer Structures at Interfaces
- J.-U. Sommer and G. Reiter Advances in Polymer Science, 200, 1-36 (2006)
- Elastomer polymer brushes on flat surface by bimolecular surface-initiated nitroxide mediated polymerization
- Julien Parvole, Jean-Pierre Montfort, Günter Reiter, Oleg Borisov, Laurent Billon. Polymer, 47, 972-981 (2006)
- The role of nonlinear friction in the dewetting of thin polymer films
- T. Vilmin, E. Raphaël, P. Damman, S. Sclavons, S. Gabriele, M. Hamieh, G. Reiter. Europhys. Lett. 73, 906 - 912 (2006)
- Self-Assembly of Nanoparticle Ring Patterns
- Jürgen Parisi, Leonid V. Govor, Gottfried H. Bauer, Günter Reiter. Zeitschrift für Naturforschung Section A, A journal of physical sciences 61, 99-102 (2006)
- Bilayer formation in thin film of a binary solution
- Leonid V. Govor, Günter Reiter, Gottfried H. Bauer, Jürgen Parisi. Physics Letters A 353, 198–204 (2006)
- Ordered Polymeric Nanostructures at Surfaces
- Editors: G. Julius Vancso and Günter Reiter. Advances in Polymer Science 200 (2006), Springer Berlin/Heidelberg, ISBN: 3-540-31921-2, DOI: 10.1007/11605294, ISSN: 0065-3195 (Paper) 1436-5030 (Online)
- Amorphous Thin Polymers Films: Consequences of Residual Stresses
- G. Reiter, M. Hamieh, S. Al Akhrass, S. Sclavons, S. Gabriele, P. Damman, T. Vilmin, E. Raphaël. Makromolekulares Kolloquium Freiburg, “Macromolecular Bioscience”. 6 (2), F95 (2006)
- Treelike branched structures formed in dewetting thin films of a binary solution
- Leonid V. Govor, Günter Reiter, Gottfried H. Bauer, Jürgen Parisi. Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 133126 (2006)