Publications
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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
- Changes in surface free energy and surface conductivity of carbon nanotubes/polyimide nanocomposite films induced by UV irradiation
- Baode Zhang, Marialaura Clausi, Barbara Heck, Susanna Laurenzi, Gabriella Santonicola, Janis Kleperis, Andris Antuzevičs, Guenter Reiter, Andrey Aleshin, Anatoly Lobach. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 13 (2021) 24218–24227
- Surface-modified elastomeric nanofluidic devices for single nanoparticle trapping
- Deepika Sharma, Roderick Y. H. Lim, Thomas Pfohl and Yasin Ekinci. Microsystems & Nanoengineering 7 (2021) 46
- Optimization of Nanofluidic Devices for Geometry-Induced Electrostatic Trapping
- Deepika Sharma, Roderick Y. H. Lim, Thomas Pfohl, and Yasin Ekinci. Part. Part. Syst. Charact. 2021, 38, 2000275
- Tuning topography and patterns of thin polymer films on structured substrates
- Konstantinos Roumpos. Inauguraldissertation der Fakultät für Mathematik und Physik 2021. DOI: 10.6094/UNIFR/194127
- Morphological transitions in langmuir films of a diblock copolymer from polyethylene glycol and poly-L-lactide
- Emna Khechine. Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Fakultät für Chemie und Pharmazie, 2021
- High-throughput injection molding of transparent fused silica glass
- Markus Mader, Oliver Schlatter, Barbara Heck, Andreas Warmbold, Alex Dorn, Hans Zappe, Patrick Risch, Dorothea Helmer, Frederik Kotz, Bastian E. Rapp. Science 372 (2021) 182-186
- Formation of large polymer crystals from metastable solutions
- Tianyu Wu. Inauguraldissertation der Fakultät für Chemie und Pharmazie 2020, DOI: 10.6094/UNIFR/167415
- Exploring pathways to equilibrate Langmuir polymer films
- Abhijna Das, Sebastian Noack, Helmut Schlaad, Günter Reiter, Renate Reiter. Langmuir 36 (2020) 8184–8192
- Energy transport and light propagation mechanisms in organic single crystals
- Bernd Wittmann, Stephan Wiesneth, Sajedeh Motamen, Laurent Simon, Françoise Serein-Spirau, Günter Reiter, and Richard Hildner. Journal of Chemical Physics 153 (2020) 144202
- Large quantum efficiency enhancements of pristine conjugated polymer MEH-PPV by interlayer polymer diffusion
- Po-Tsun Chen, Ya-Wei Yang, Günter Reiter, Arnold C.-M. Yang. Polymer 204 (2020) 122753
- Formation of Needle-like Poly(3-hexylthiophene) Crystals from Metastable Solutions
- Tianyu Wu, Thomas Pfohl, Sivasurender Chandran, Michael Sommer and Günter Reiter. Macromolecules 53 (2020) 8303–8312
- Rheological Properties of Blends of Isotactic Polystyrene–Isotactic Poly(para-methylstyrene) Films Derived from a Comparative Dewetting Study
- Austine Amukayia Mulama, Konstantinos Roumpos, Pradipkanti Lairenjam, Andrew Oduor, Günter Reiter. Macromolecules 53 (2020) 9122–9130
- Dewetting-Induced Alignment and Ordering of Cylindrical Mesophases in Thin Block Copolymer Films
- Heng Zhang, Binghua Wang, Gang Wang, Changyu Shen, Jingbo Chen, Günter Reiter, Bin Zhang. Macromolecules 53, (2020) 9631–9640
- Estimation of the Size of Critical Secondary Nuclei of Melt-Grown Poly(l-lactide) Lamellar Crystals
- Shujing Zhang, Baohua Guo, Günter Reiter, Jun Xu. Macromolecules 53 (2020) 3482–3492
- Translating molecular relaxations in non-equilibrated polymer melts into lifting macroscopic loads
- Farzad Ramezani, Jörg Baschnagel, and Günter Reiter. Phys. Rev. Materials 4 (2020) 082601
- A new growth process for crystalline ultra-thin layers of conjugated oligomers used in field-effect transistor applications
- Sven Renkert, Sadiara Fall, Sajedeh Motamen, Thibaut Jarrosson, Françoise Serein-Spirau, Thomas Heiser, Laurent Simon, Günter Reiter, Jean-Luc Bubendorff. Applied Surface Science 539 (2021) 148024
- The memorizing capacity of polymers
- Günter Reiter. J. Chem. Phys. 152, 150901 (2020)
- Formation of asymmetric leaf-shaped crystals in ultrathin films of oriented polyethylene molecules resulting from high-temperature relaxation and recrystallization
- Huihui Li, Duanzijing Liu, Xinyun Bu, Zhenzhen Zhou, Zhongjie Ren, Xiaoli Sun, Renate Reiter, Shouke Yan, Günter Reiter. Macromolecules 53 (2020) 346-354
- Controlling phase transitions in Langmuir polymer films
- Abhijna Das. Inauguraldissertation der Fakultät für Mathematik und Physik 2020. DOI: 10.6094/UNIFR/167266
- Controlling Nucleation in Quasi-Two-Dimensional Langmuir Poly(L-lactide) Films through Variation of the Rate of Compression
- Abhijna Das, Ahmed S. El-Tawargy, Emna Khechine, Sebastian Noack, Helmut Schlaad, Günter Reiter, and Renate Reiter. Langmuir 35 (2019) 6129-6136