Aggregation States of Poly(4-methylpentene-1) at a Solid Interface

Local orientation of chains at crystal/amorphous interfaces buried in isotactic polypropylene thin films

A better understanding of the aggregation states of polymer chains in thin films is of pivotal importance for developing thin film polymer devices in addition to its inherent scientific interest. Here we report the preferential orientation of the crystalline lamellae for isotactic polypropylene (iPP) in spin-coated films by grazing incidence of wide-angle X-ray diffraction in conjunction with sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy, which provides information on the local conformation of chains at crystal/amorphous interfaces buried in a thin film. The crystalline orientation of iPP, which formed cross-hatched lamellae induced by lamellar branching, altered from a mixture of edge-on and face-on mother lamellae to preferential face-on mother lamellae with decreasing thickness. The orientation of methyl groups at the crystal/amorphous interfaces in the interior region of the iPP films changed, accompanied by a change in the lamellar orientation.

Phase-Sensitive Vibrationally Resonant Sum-Frequency Generation Microscopy in Multiplex Configuration at 80 MHz Repetition Rate

Vibrationally resonant sum-frequency generation (VR SFG) microscopy is an advanced imaging technique that can map out the intensity contrast of infrared and Raman active vibrational modes with micron to submicron lateral resolution. To broaden its applications and to obtain a molecular level of understanding, further technical advancement is needed to enable high-speed measurements of VR SFG microspectra at every pixel. In this study, we demonstrate a new VR SFG hyperspectral imaging platform combined with an ultrafast laser system operated at a repetition rate of 80 MHz. The multiplex configuration with broadband mid-infrared pulses makes it possible to measure a single microspectrum of CH/CH₂ stretching modes in biological samples, such as starch granules and type I collagen tissue, with an exposure time of hundreds of milliseconds. Switching from the homodyne- to heterodyne-detected VR SFG hyperspectral imaging can be achieved by inserting a pair of optics into the beam path for local oscillator generation and delay time adjustment, which enables self-phase-stabilized spectral interferometry. We investigate the relationship between phase images of several different C-H modes and the relative orientation of collagen triple-helix in fibril bundles. The results show that the new multiplex VR SFG microscope operated at a high repetition rate is a powerful approach to probe the structural features and spatial arrangements of biological systems in detail.

Design of peptides with strong binding affinity to poly(methyl methacrylate) resin by use of molecular simulation-based materials informatics

Peptides with strong binding affinities for poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) resin were designed by use of materials informatics technology based on molecular dynamics simulation for the purpose of covering the resin surface with adhesive peptides, which were expected to result in eco-friendly and biocompatible biomaterials. From the results of binding affinity obtained with this molecular simulation, it was confirmed that experimental values could be predicted with errors <10%. By analyzing the simulation data with the response-surface method, we found that three peptides (RWWRPWW, EWWRPWR, and RWWRPWR), which consist of arginine (R), tryptophan (W), and proline (P), have strong binding affinity to the PMMA resin. These amino acids were effective because arginine and tryptophan have strong binding affinities for methoxycarbonyl groups and methyl groups, which are the main constituents of the PMMA resin, and proline stabilizes the flat zigzag structures of the peptides in water. The strong binding affinities of the three peptides were confirmed by experiments (surface plasmon resonance methods).

Entropy-driven segregation in epoxy-amine systems at a copper interface

The composition of an epoxy resin at the interface with the adherend is usually different from that in the bulk due to the enrichment of a specific constituent, a characteristic called interfacial segregation. For better adhesion, it should be precisely understood how epoxy and amine molecules exist on the adherend surface and react with each other to form a three-dimensional network. In this study, the entropic factor of the segregation in a mixture of epoxy and amine at the copper interface before and after the curing reaction is discussed on the basis of a full-atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Smaller molecules were preferentially segregated at the interface regardless of the epoxy and amine, and this segregation remained after the curing process. No segregation occurred at the interface for a combination composed of epoxy and amine molecules with a similar size. These findings make it clear that the size disparity between constituents affects the interfacial segregation via the packing and/or translational entropy. The curing reaction was slower near the interface than in the bulk, and a large amount of unreacted molecules remained there. Finally, the effect of molecular shape was also examined. Linear molecules were more likely to segregate than round-shaped ones even though they were similar in volume. We believe that these findings, which are difficult to obtain experimentally, contribute to the understanding of the interfacial adhesion phenomena on a molecular scale.

Local Orientation of Polystyrene at the Interface with Poly(methyl methacrylate) in Block Copolymer

The local conformation of polystyrene (PS) at the phase-separated lamellar interface with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) in their diblock copolymer (BCP) was examined by sum-frequency generation spectroscopy in conjunction with a full-atomistic molecular dynamics simulation. While PS phenyl groups of BCP were oriented in the interfacial region, they were random in the bulk. Such an interfacial orientation of phenyl groups was not clear for the corresponding blend of PS and PMMA. The PS backbone of BCP was in-plane oriented and folded near to the chemical junction point located in the interfacial region and the orientation became random at several nanometers distant. No evidence for the chain folding at the interface was found for the blend system.

Coating Mechanism of AuNPs onto Sepiolite by Experimental Research and MD Simulation

The amenability of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) coating on natural and modified (hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide, CTAB) sepiolite surfaces was studied both experimentally and theoretically. The zeta potential experiments and Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR), environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses were carried out with the sepiolite samples in the presence of AuNPs. In addition, the adsorption of three gold-nanoparticles on the sepiolite surface (100) in the absence and presence of CTAB was investigated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The AuNPs showed no significant change in the zeta potential of natural sepiolite surfaces due to negative charges of both the sepiolite and AuNPs at natural pH. The surface charge of modified sepiolite decreased with the increase in AuNPs concentration indicating the significance AuNPs adsorption. FTIR, ESEM, and TEM analyses indicated the coating of AuNPs onto the modified sepiolite surface were higher than that of the natural sepiolite surface. The MD simulation results showed that AuNPs can easily adsorb onto the basal surface of the sepiolite due to its hydrophilicity in the presence and absence of CTAB as indicated in the experimental studies. In short, the modification of sepiolite with CTAB made the charge positive, and in turn considerably increased the AuNPs coating on sepiolite surfaces due to electrostatic attraction.