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Recent Publications
Anmol Arya, Solomon L. Joseph, Francois Vonau, Jean-Luc Bubendorff, Silvia Siegenführ, Laurent Simon, Günter Reiter. J. Phys. Chem. C, published online
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
- Evidence for a mechanically active high temperature relaxation process in syndiotactic polypropylene
- Yongfeng Men, Gert Strobl. Polymer 43, 2761-2768 (2002)
- Strain-controlled tensile deformation behavior of isotactic poly(1-butene) and its ethylene copolymers
- M. Al-Hussein, G. Strobl. Macromolecules 35, 8515-8520 (2002)
- Change of modulus and yielding properties of syndiotactic polypropylene with the glass transition
- Y.F. Men, G. Strobl, P. Wette. E-Polymers, 040 (2002)
- Morphological basis for the complex melting behaviour of isotactic polystyrene
- M. Al-Hussein, G. Strobl. E-Polymers, 038 (2002)
- Physik kondensierter Materie. Kristalle, Flüssigkeiten, Flüssigkristalle und Polymere
- Gert Strobl. Springer 2002, ISBN 978-3540432173
- Negative cooperativity and aggregation in biphasic binding of Mastoporan X Peptide to membranes with acidic lipids
- G. Schwarz, R. Reiter. Biophysical Chemistry 90, 269-277 (2001)
- Call for papers Special issue on "Properties of thin polymer films"
- Günter Reiter (Editor) and James Forrest (Guest Editor) Eur. Phys. J. E 5, 389 (2001)
- Mission accomplished??
- A.M. Donald, J.-F. Joanny, M. Möller and G. Reiter (Editors-in-Chief). Eur. Phys. J. E 4, 3 (2001)
- Direct visualization of random crystallization and melting in arrays of nanometer-sized polymer crystals
- G. Reiter, G. Castelein, J.-U. Sommer, A. Röttele, T. Thurn-Albrecht. Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 226101 (2001)
- Morphogenesis of lamellar polymer crystals
- J.-U. Sommer, G. Reiter. Europhys. Lett. 56, 755 (2001)
- Dewetting of highly elastic thin polymer films
- Günter Reiter. Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 186101 (2001)
- Spincast, thin, glassy polymer films: highly metastable forms of matter
- G. Reiter, P. G. de Gennes. Eur. Phys. J. E 6, 25-28 (2001)
- Auto-optimization of dewetting rates by rim instabilities in slipping polymer films
- G. Reiter, A. Sharma. Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 166103 (2001)
- Liquidlike morphological transformations in mono-lamellar polymer crystals
- G. Reiter, G. Castelein, J.-U. Sommer. Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 5918 (2001)
- Friction induced by grafted polymeric chains
- A. Casoli, M. Brendlé, J. Schultz, P. Auroy, G. Reiter. Langmuir 17, 388 (2001)
- SAXS and DSC studies of the crystallization and melting phenomena of poly(epsilon-caprolactone)
- B. Heck, E.R. Sadiku, G.R. Strobl. Macromolecular Symposia 165, 99-113 (2001)
- A new light driven spectrometer for the determination of complex heat capacities and conductivities by combination of effusivity and diffusivity measurements
- T. Albrecht, S. Armbruster, B. Stühn, K. Vogel, G. Strobl. Thermochimica Acta 377, 159-172 (2001)
- Dynamics of surface crystallization and melting in polyethylene and poly(ethylene oxide) studied by temperature-modulated DSC and heat wave spectroscopy
- T. Albrecht, S. Armbruster, S. Keller, G. Strobl. Macromolecules 34, 8456-8467 (2001)
- Critical strains determining the yield behavior of s-PP
- Y. Men, G. Strobl. Journal of Macromolecular Science - Physics B40, 775-796 (2001)
- Kinetics of reversible surface crystallization and melting in polyethylene oxide): Effect of crystal thickness observed in the dynamic heat capacity
- T. Albrecht, S. Armbruster, S. Keller, G. Strobl. European Physical Journal E 6, 237-243 (2001)