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
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 published online
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...)
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...)
List of Publications
- Segmental Relaxations Have Macroscopic Consequences in Glassy Polymer Films
- Mithun Chowdhury, Paul Freyberg, Falko Ziebert, Arnold C.-M. Yang, Ullrich Steiner and Günter Reiter. Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 136102 (2012)
- Shear-stress sensitive lenticular vesicles for targeted drug delivery
- Margaret N. Holme, Illya A. Fedotenko, Daniel Abegg, Jasmin Althaus, Lucille Babel, France Favarger, Renate Reiter, Radu Tanasescu, Pierre-Léonard Zaffalon, André Ziegler, Bert Müller, Till Saxer, Andreas Zumbuehl. Nature Nanotechnology 7, 536–543 (2012)
- Probing Properties of Polymers in Thin Films via Dewetting.
- Günter Reiter. In: "Glass Transition, Dynamics and Heterogeneity of Polymer Thin Films", Ed. Toshiji Kanaya. Springer, ISBN 978-3-642-34338-4, Adv. Polym. Sci. 252, 29 (2013)
- Thin Polymer Films Out of Thermodynamic Equilibrium
- Mithun Chowdhury. Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Fakultät für Mathematik und Physik der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, 2012
- Investigation of Melting and Re-Crystallisation Behavior of Polyethylene Nanocrystals
- Nandita Basu. Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Fakultät für Mathematik und Physik der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, 2012
- Severe deformations of malignant bone and skin cells, as well as aged cells, on micropatterned surfaces
- Patricia M. Davidson, Tokuko Haraguchi, Takako Koujin, Thorsten Steinberg, Pascal Tomakidi, Yasushi Hiraoka, Karine Anselme, Günter Reiter. In "Biomaterials Surface Science" Eds. Andreas Taubert, Joao F. Mano, Jose Carlos Rodriguez-Cabello. Wiley-VCH Germany, ISBN 978-3527330317 (2013)
- Morphological changes during annealing of polyethylene nanocrystals
- Nandita Basu, Anna Osichow, Stefan Mecking, Günter Reiter. EPJE 35,18 (2012)
- Anisotropic Charge Transport in Spherulitic Poly(3-hexylthiophene) Films
- Edward J. W. Crossland, Kim Tremel, Florian Fischer, Khosrow Rahimi, Günter Reiter, Ullrich Steiner, and Sabine Ludwigs. Adv. Mater. 24, 839–844 (2012)
- Molecular dynamics and biaxiality of nematic polymers and elastomers
- Felicitas Brömmel, Werner Stille, Heino Finkelmann, Anke Hoffmann. Soft Matter 7, 2387-2401 (2011)
- Non-equilibrium behavior of thin polymer films
- Katherine R. Thomas, Alexis Chenneviere, Günter Reiter and Ullrich Steiner. Phys. Rev. E 83, 021804 (2011)
- Depression of the Zero Growth Temperature by Counits Observed for s-Polypropylene in Light Attenuation Experiments
- Ralf Delto, Werner Stille, Gert Strobl. Macromolecules 43, 1035-1040 (2010)
- Conductance fluctuations in metal-nanoparticle-metal junctions
- L. V. Govor, G. H. Bauer, G. Reiter, and J. Parisi. Phys. Rev. B 82, 155437 (2010)
- Aging of thin polymer films cast from a near-theta solvent
- Adam Raegen, Mithun Chowdhury, Christophe Calers, Alexander Schmatulla, Ullrich Steiner, and Günter Reiter. Phys. Rev. Letters 105, 227801 (2010)
- Spreading of Liquids on Substrates
- Günter Reiter. In Handbook of Adhesion Technology. Eds. Lucas Filipe Martins da Silva, Andreas Öchsner, Robert Adams. Springer 2011
- Systematic Control of Nucleation Density in Poly(3-hexylthiophene) Thin Films
- Edward J. W. Crossland, Khosrow Rahimi, Günter Reiter, Ullrich Steiner, and Sabine Ludwigs. Advanced Functional Materials 21, 518–524 (2011)
- Possible origin of thickness-dependent deviations from bulk properties of thin polymer films
- Günter Reiter, Simone Napolitano. Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics 48, 2544-2547 (2010)
- Surface-induced breakout crystallization in cylinderforming P(I-b-EO) diblock copolymer thin films
- C.M. Papadakis, C. Darko, Z. Di, K. Troll, E. Metwalli, A. Timmann, G. Reiter, and S. Förster. European Physical Journal E 34, 7 (2011)
- Topographically induced self-deformation of the nuclei of cells: dependence on cell type and proposed mechanisms
- Patricia M. Davidson, Olivia Fromigue, Pierre J. Marie, Vasif Hasirci, Günter Reiter, Karine Anselme. J. Mater. Sci.: Mater. Med. 21, 939-946 (2010)
- Accelerating Dewetting on Deformable Substrates by Adding a Liquid Underlayer
- Lin Xu, Günter Reiter, Tongfei Shi and Lijia An. Langmuir 26, 7270–7276 (2010)
- 高分子の物理―構造と物性を理解するために (単行本)
- G.R. ストローブル (著), Gert R. Strobl (原著), 深尾 浩次 (翻訳), 宮地 英紀 (翻訳), 宮本 嘉久 (翻訳), 林 久夫 (翻訳). 出版社: シュプリンガー・フェアラーク東京 (1998/2010) ISBN 978-4431707950