Publications
Select the year of publication...
| 2016-2018 | 2019-2021 | 2022-2024 | 2025 |
| 2004-2006 | 2007-2009 | 2010-2012 | 2013-2015 |
| before 1990 | 1991-1995 | 1996-2000 | 2001-2003 |
...or go to the
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
- What Determines Static Friction and Controls the Transition to Sliding
- G. Reiter, A. L. Demirel, J. Peanasky, L. Cai, S. Granick. Tribology Lett. 1, 1 (1995)
- Temperature-Dependent Crystalline-Amorphous Structures in Isotactic Polypropylene - Small-Angle X-Ray-Scattering Analysis of Edge-Bounded 2-Phase Systems
- T. Albrecht, G. Strobl. Macromolecules 28, 5267-5273 (1995)
- Periodic Pattern Formation in Side-Group Polymer Nematic Solutions at the Twist Frederiks Transition
- E. E. Pashkovsky, W. Stille and G. Strobl. J. Phys. II France 5, 397 (1995)
- Temperature-Dependent Crystalline-Amorphous Structures in Linear Polyethylene - Surface Melting and the Thickness of the Amorphous Layers
- T. Albrecht, G. Strobl. Macromolecules 28, 5827-5833 (1995)
- The effect of molecular association and tube dilation on the rotational viscosity and rotational diffusion in nematic liquid crystals
- A. Raviol, W. Stille, and G. Strobl. J. Chem. Phys. 103, 3788 (1995)
- Nematic Wetting at the Free-Surface of 4-Cyano-4'-N-Alkyl-Biphenyls
- H. Kasten, G. Strobl. Journal of Chemical Physics 103, 6768-6774 (1995)
- The Dynamics of Freedericksz Transitions in Nematic Solutions of Mesogenic Polymers
- E. E. Pashkovsky, T. G. Litvina, W. Stille, and G. Strobl. Vysokomolekulyarnye Soedineniya Seriya A 37, 1272 (1995)
- Self Diffusion of “Hairy Rod” Molecules in Langmuir-Blodgett-Kuhn Multilayers Probed with Neutron and X-ray Reflectometry
- A. Schmidt, K. Mathauer, G. Reiter, M.D. Foster, M. Stamm, G. Wegner, W. Knoll. Langmuir 10, 3820 (1994)
- Stick to Slip Transition and Adhesion of Lubricated Surfaces in Moving Contact
- G. Reiter, A.L. Demirel, J. Peanasky, L. Cai, S. Granick. J. Chem. Phys. 101, 2606 (1994)
- From Static to Kinetic Friction in Confined Liquid Films
- G. Reiter, A.L. Demirel, S. Granick. Science 263, 1741 (1994)
- Dewetting as a Probe of Polymer Mobility in Thin Films
- G. Reiter. Macromolecules 27, 3046 (1994)
- Chain Reorientation in Poly(tetrafluoroethylene) by Mobile Twin-Helix Reversal Defects
- M. Kimmig, G. Strobl, B. Stühn. Macromolecules 27, 2481-2495 (1994)
- Local Motion in the beta-Transition Range of Partially Crystalline Polyethylene Studied by Neutron-Scattering
- B. Holzer, G. Strobl, B. Stühn, N.H. Andersen. Colloid and Polymer Science 272, 1396-1402 (1994)
- Dynamics of Rotational Motion in Liquid Crystalline Systems
- W. Stille, G. Strobl. in: R. Richert, A. Blumen (Eds.), Disorder Effects on Relaxational Processes, p. 725, Springer, Berlin (1994).
- Molecular Weight Dependence of the Rotational Diffusion Constant and the Rotational Viscosity of Liquid Crystalline Side Group Polymers
- S. Götz, W. Stille, G. Strobl, H. Scheuermann. Macromolecules 26, 1520 (1993)
- Near-Critical Behavior of the Dynamic Stress-Optical Coefficient in Liquid Crystalline Elastomers
- R. Sigel, W. Stille, G. Strobl and R. Lehnert. Macromolecules 26, 4226 (1993)
- Adhesion Instabilities of Surfaces Undergoing Shear
- G. Reiter, J.S. Peanasky, L. Cai, A.L. Demirel, S. Granick. ACS Polymer Preprint Fall 1993
- Dynamics of Polymer Interdiffusion at Short Times
- U. Steiner, G. Reiter. Proceedings of the Les Houches Conference 1991: Dynamical Phenomena at Interfaces, Surfaces and Membranes, D. Beysens, N. Boccara, G. Forgacs, eds., Nova Science Publishers, New York, p. 511-512 (1993)
- Unstable Thin Polymer Films: Rupture and Dewetting Processes
- G. Reiter. Langmuir 9, 1344 (1993)
- Mobility of Polymers in Films Thinner Than Their Unperturbed Size
- G. Reiter. Europhysics Letters 23, 579 (1993)