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Recent Publications
Temperature dependence of crystal – melt coexistence for supported polyethylene filaments
Da Huang, Thorsten Hugel, Bizan N. Balzer, Günter Reiter. Nature Communications 16 (2025) 11127
The broken symmetry of molecular interactions at interfaces is causing that crystals are often covered by a thin liquid layer of their own melt. Such crystal–melt coexistence can be related to phenomena of surface premelting, secondary nucleation and melting point depression, particularly important for small systems. Here, we employed intermittent-contact mode atomic force microscopy imaging on nanoscopic semi-cylindrical filaments of polyethylene on a substrate to observe that these filaments contained a crystalline core bounded by molten regions of rather uniform width, W_soft= (9 ± 2) nm at room temperature, which increased reversibly with temperature T. Filaments smaller than ca. 2∙W_soft (T) were completely molten. The values of W_soft (T) compared favorably with theoretically predicted characteristic length scales in the context of nucleation, surface premelting and the melting point depression of finite size crystals. Altogether, we show that these three phenomena are related and dominated by the intermolecular forces acting at crystal surfaces.
Crystallization of Layers of Strongly Adsorbed Poly(ethylene terephthalate) on Silicon Substrates
Liang Chen, Zhihang Bian, Xiaonan Li, Zhenwei Jiang, Jianquan Xu, Decai Lin, Guenter Reiter, Jichun You, Xinping Wang. Macromolecules 58 (2025) 12222–12230
We examined the crystallization behavior of ultrathin layers of strongly adsorbed poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) chains on silicon substrates, yielding a characteristic morphology of uniquely curved dendritic polymer crystals. The observed curvature resulted from bent edge-on lamellar crystals from which terraced flat-on branched lamellar crystals grew essentially from the convex outer side. The degree of bending increased with decreasing crystallization temperature and increasing strength of polymer/substrate interactions. We propose that unbalanced stresses acting on the fold surfaces of PET lamellar crystals, probably induced by strong interactions with the substrate, were responsible for the observed curvature of the lamellar crystals. (more...)
Crystallization and Melting of Polyethylene Strongly Cross-linked in the Molten State
Jingqing Li, Weihua Wang, Yunxiang Shi, Barbara Heck, Chuanfu Luo, Jesper de Claville Christiansen, Donghong Yu, Günter Reiter, Shichun Jiang. Soft Matter 21 (2025) 6422
We examined the crystallization and melting behavior of highly cross-linked polyethylene (xPE) samples, including structural characterization of the resulting crystalline domains. Using γ-ray irradiation, cross-linking was performed in the molten state and not in the solid state. This approach assured a statistical and homogeneous distribution of the cross-link points. Upon increasing the radiation dose, the molecular weight of the strands connecting the cross-link points reached values even lower than that of the strands between physical entanglements. (more...)
List of Publications
- Triple-Shape Memory Materials via Thermoresponsive Behavior of Nanocrystalline Non-Isocyanate Polyhydroxyurethanes
- Vitalij Schimpf, Barbara Heck, Günter Reiter, Rolf Mülhaupt. Macromolecules 50 (2017) 3598–3606
- Semicrystalline long-chain polyphosphoesters from polyesterification
- Hanna Busch, Sumit Majumder, Guenter Reiter, Stefan Mecking. Macromolecules 50 (2017) 2706–2713
- Blocking of injected holes at the charge extracting interface
- L. Govor, G. Reiter, J. Parisi. Journal of Physics, Condensed Matter 29 (2017) 025001
- Relaxing Non-equilibrated Polymers in Thin Films at Temperatures Slightly Above the Glass Transition
- Mithun Chowdhury, Samer Al Akhrass, Falko Ziebert, Günter Reiter. Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics 55 (2017) 515–523
- Solvent-controlled reversible switching between adsorbed self-assembled nanoribbons and nanotubes
- Asad Jamal, Irina Nyrkova, Philippe Mesini, Swann Militzer and Günter Reiter. Nanoscale 9 (2017) 3293-3303
- Low Loss Optical Waveguiding in Large Single Crystals of Thiophene-Based Oligomers
- Sajedeh Motamen, Christian Schörner, Dominic Raithel, Jean-Pierre Malval, Thibaut Jarrosson, Françoise Serein-Spirau, Laurent Simon, Richard Hildner, Günter Reiter. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 19 (2017) 15980 - 15987
- Time Allowed for Equilibration Quantifies the Preparation Induced Non-equilibrium Behavior of Polymer Films
- Sivasurender Chandran, Rishab Handa, Marwa Kchaou, Samer Al Akhrass, Alexander Semenov, Günter Reiter. ACS Macro Lett. 6 (2017) 1296-1300
- A novel interferometric method for the study of the viscoelastic properties of ultra-thin polymer films determined from nanobubble inflation
- P. Chapuis , P. C. Montgomery, F. Anstotz, A. Leong-Hoï, C. Gauthier, J. Baschnagel, G. Reiter, G. B. McKenna, and A. Rubin. Review of Scientific Instruments 88 (2017) 093901
- Controlling Polymer Crystallization Kinetics by Sample History
- Purushottam Poudel, Sivasurender Chandran, Sumit Majumder and Günter Reiter. Macromol. Chem. Phys. 2017, 1700315
- Morphological Changes of Isotactic Polypropylene Crystals Grown in Thin Films
- Bin Zhang, Jiajia Chen, Baochen Liu, Binghua Wang, Changyu Shen, Renate Reiter, Jingbo Chen, Günter Reiter. Macromolecules 50 (2017) 6210−6217
- Soft electrostatic trapping in nanofluidics
- Michael A. Gerspach, Nassir Mojarad, Deepika Sharma, Thomas Pfohl, and Yasin Ekinci. Microsystems & Nanoengineering (2017) 3, 17051
- Live cell X-ray imaging of autophagic vacuoles formation and chromatin dynamics in fission yeast
- N. Strelnikova, N. Sauter, M. Guizar-Sicairos, M. Göllner, A. Diaz, P. Delivani, M. Chacon, I. M. Tolić, V. Zaburdaev, T. Pfohl, Scientific Reports 7 (2017) 13775
- Second messenger-mediated tactile response by a bacterial rotary motor
- I. Hug, S. Deshpande, K. S. Sprecher, T. Pfohl, U. Jenal, Science 358 (2017) 531-534
- Manipulating the dewetting dynamics of polymer films by creating non-equilibrium conformational states at the interface
- Adrian Linn, Master Thesis 2017
- Induziertes gerichtetes Kristallwachstum einer kristallisierbaren Polymerkomponente innerhalb eines nicht-kristallisierbaren Polymernetzwerks und Untersuchung der resultierenden mechanischen Energie
- Stephan Laule. Inauguraldissertation 2017
- Self-Assembly and Polymerization of Diacetylene Molecules on Epitaxial Graphene
- Fallou Fall, Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrads der Fakultät für Mathematik und Physik der Universität Freiburg, 2017
- Vesicle Origami and the Influence of Cholesterol on Lipid Packing
- Radu Tanasescu, Martin A. Lanz, Dennis Mueller, Stephanie Tassler, Takashi Ishikawa, Renate Reiter, Gerald Brezesinski, and Andreas Zumbuehl. Langmuir 32 (2016) 4896−4903
- Self-assembly behavior of a rod-like polypeptide at the air-water interface
- Renate Reiter, Frédéric Wintzenrieth, Günter Reiter. Polymer 107 (2016) 379–386
- Covalent Functionalization by Cycloaddition Reactions of Pristine Defect-Free Graphene
- L. Daukiya, C. Mattioli, D. Aubel, S. Hajjar-Garreau, F. Vonau, E.Denys, G. Reiter, J. Fransson, E. Perrin, M-L. Bocquet, C. Bena, A. Gourdon, and L. Simon. ACS Nano 11 (2017) 627–634
- How Molecules with Dipole Moments Enhance the Selectivity of Electrodes in Organic Solar Cells – A Combined Experimental and Theoretical Approach
- Uli Würfel, Martin Seßler, Moritz Unmüssig, Nils Hofmann, Mathias List, Eric Mankel, Thomas Mayer, Günter Reiter, Jean-Luc Bubendorff, Laurent Simon, and Markus Kohlstädt. Adv. Energy Mat. 1600594 (2016)