Publications
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Recent Publications
Spatiotemporal Sequence of Interdependent Nucleation Mechanisms in Ultrathin Polymer Films
Da Huang, Rana Bakhshi, Raoul M. D'Anselme, Günter Reiter. Macromolecules, published online
Employing defined starting conditions of ultrathin molten poly(ethylene oxide) films on model solid substrates, we investigated the spatiotemporal sequence of interdependent mechanisms of crystal nucleation. Due to the limited number and the preferred conformation of polymer chains parallel to the substrate, primary nucleation favored edge-on lamellar crystals, which indirectly induced other subsequent nucleation pathways, enabled through the molten polymer chains accumulated at their peripheral fold surfaces. Both additional edge-on lamellar crystals and branched flat-on lamellar crystals were initiated. For long-chain polymers, spatial correlations between lamellar crystals across intervening noncrystalline regions were established through polymer chains incorporated within neighboring lamellae. (more...)
Decai Lin, Zebin Su, Yuxiang Chen, Jianquan Xu, Günter Reiter, Cuiyun Zhang, Xinping Wang. Macromolecules 59 (2026) 4970–4981
Using infrared reflection–absorption spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy, we revealed that polymer–substrate interactions, chain length, and film thickness critically influenced the morphology and orientation of lamellar crystals of poly(l-lactide) (PLLA) grown at a constant temperature. In contrast to the often-observed monotonic change from preferentially flat-on to edge-on crystals upon increasing film thickness, an unprecedented nonmonotonic change in the dominating orientation of lamellar crystals from edge-on to flat-on and back to edge-on was observed. In the thinnest films, size confinement and adsorption-induced alignment of the chains favored the nucleation and growth of edge-on lamellar crystals. Enhanced polymer–substrate interactions promoted the formation of edge-on lamellar crystals in the thinnest films with a higher molecular weight. (more..)
Anmol Arya, Solomon L. Joseph, Francois Vonau, Jean-Luc Bubendorff, Silvia Siegenführ, Laurent Simon, Günter Reiter. J. Phys. Chem. C 2026, 130, 5536–5546
In the course of electrospraying in a vacuum, polymers acquire electric charges, which are distributed along their backbone. Here, we demonstrate that these charges have a strong impact on the molecular ordering and spectroscopic properties of conjugated polymers when deposited on substrates with an insulating oxide layer. To this end, we electrosprayed varying amounts of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) onto silicon substrates with oxide layers of different thickness. The resulting morphologies were explored by atomic force microscopy. The corresponding spectroscopic properties, including their changes in time upon illumination, were derived from photoluminescence (PL) measurements. On insulating substrates, charges were retained on the polymer chains, causing long-range electrostatic repulsion and the formation of largely separated droplet-like objects containing multiple chains. These objects exhibited significant PL intensities for photons with a wavelength (λ) less than ca. 600 nm, suggesting the lack of π–π stacking interactions between P3HT chains. (more...)
Reversible Metamorphosis of a Conjugated Polymer Induced by Photoexcitation
Solomon Joseph, Anmol Arya, Günter Reiter. Advanced Photonics Research 7 (2026) e202500311
Optoelectronic properties of materials are frequently examined through spectroscopic tools based on the absorption and emission of (visible) photons. Typically, one assumes that these transient characterization processes do not cause observable change of these properties because of the low power of the employed light sources. However, for flexible conjugated polymers in a medium of low viscosity, it is decidedly unclear whether photoexcitation of electrons on the backbone of a long polymer chain has an influence on macromolecular conformations and the corresponding intermolecular interactions. Here, we provide clear experimental evidence that continuous absorption of photons progressively causes persistent changes in the spectroscopic properties of conjugated polymers, accompanied by microscopically observable changes in their spatial distribution within a low-viscosity matrix. By contrast, all these changes were completely absent in nonilluminated parts of the same sample.(more...)
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.(more...)
List of Publications
- Molecular-Motion, Thermal-Expansion, and the Phase-Transitions in Paraffins: A Model for Polymers
- G.R. Strobl. J. Polym. Sci. Part C - Polymer Symposium 59, 121-142 (1977)
- Die molekularen Grundlagen der anisotropen thermischen Ausdehnung von Paraffinen und Polyäthylen. Eine ramanspektroskopische Untersuchung am Beispiel des N-Tritriacontans
- G.R. Strobl. Coll. Polym. Sci. 254, 170-189 (1976)
- Packing of Paraffin Chains in 4 Stable Modifications of n-Tritriacontane
- W. Piesczek, G.R. Strobl, K. Malzahn. Acta Cryst. B 30, 1278 (1974)
- Defect Structure and Molecular-Motion in 4 Modifications of Normal-Tritriacontane. 2. Study of Molecular-Motion Using Infrared Spectroscopy and Wide-Line Nuclear Magnetic-Resonance Measurements
- B. Ewen, E.W. Fischer, W. Pieszek, G. Strobl. J. Chem. Phys. 61, 5265-5272 (1974)
- Defect Structure and Molecular-Motion in 4 Modifications of Normal-Tritriacontane. 1. Study of Defect Structure in Lamellar Interfaces Using Small-Angle X-Ray-Scattering
- G. Strobl, B. Ewen, E.W. Fischer, W. Piesczek. J. Chem. Phys. 61, 5257-5264 (1974)
- An exactly solvable model for coherent and incoherent exciton motion
- H. Haken and G. Strobl. Zeitschrift für Physik 262, 135-148 (1973)
- Small-angle x-ray scattering experiments for investigating the validity of the two-phase model
- G.R. Strobl, N. Müller. Journal of Polymer Science B - Polymer Physics 11, 1219-1233 (1973)
- Determination of Lamellar Structure of Partially Crystalline Polymers by Direct Analysis of their Small-Angle X-Ray-Scattering Curves
- G.R. Strobl. Journal of Applied Crystallography 6, 365-370 (1973)
- Synthese und Eigenschaften molekulareinheitlicher n-Paraffine bis zum C140H282
- W. Heitz, E.W. Fischer, R. Peters, T. Wirth, G. Strobl. Makromolekulare Chemie 162, 63 (1972)
- Analyse von spaltverschmierten Kleinwinkelstreukurven lamellarer Strukturen
- G.R. Strobl. Kolloid-Zeitschrift and Zeitschrift für Polymere 250, 1039-1046 (1972)
- A New Method for Evaluating Slit-Smeared Small Angle X-Ray Scattering Data
- G.R. Strobl. Acta Crystallographica A 26, 367-375 (1970)