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Measurement of molecular mixing at a conjugated polymer interface by specular and off-specular neutron scattering

David James, Anthony Higgins Orcid Logo, Paul Rees Orcid Logo, Mark Geoghegan, M. Rowan Brown, Shion-Seng Chang, Dyfrig Môn, Robert Cubitt, Robert Dalgliesh, Philipp Gutfreund, Rowan Brown Orcid Logo

Soft Matter, Volume: 11, Issue: 48, Pages: 9393 - 9403

Swansea University Authors: Anthony Higgins Orcid Logo, Paul Rees Orcid Logo, Rowan Brown Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1039/C5SM02008E

Abstract

Measurements have been performed on thermally equilibrated conjugated-polymer/insulating-polymer bilayers, using specular and off-specular neutron reflectivity. While specular reflectivity is only sensitive to the structure normal to the sample, off-specular measurements can probe the structure of t...

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Published in: Soft Matter
ISSN: 1744-683X 1744-6848
Published: 2015
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa26063
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While specular reflectivity is only sensitive to the structure normal to the sample, off-specular measurements can probe the structure of the buried polymer/polymer interface in the plane of the sample. Systematic analysis of the scattering from a set of samples with varying insulating-polymer-thickness, using the distorted-wave Born approximation (DWBA), has allowed a robust determination of the intrinsic width at the buried polymer/polymer interface. The quantification of this width (12 &#xC5; &#xB1; 4 &#xC5;) allows us to examine aspects of the conjugated polymer conformation at the interface, by appealing to self-consistent field theory (SCFT) predictions for equilibrium polymer/polymer interfaces in the cases of flexible and semi-flexible chains. This analysis enables us to infer that mixing at this particular interface cannot be described in terms of polymer chain segments that adopt conformations similar to a random walk. Instead, a more plausible explanation is that the conjugated polymer chain segments become significantly oriented in the plane of the interface. It is important to point out that we are only able to reach this conclusion following the extensive analysis of reflectivity data, followed by comparison with SCFT predictions. It is not simply the case that conjugated polymers would be expected to adopt this kind of oriented conformation at the interface, because of their relatively high chain stiffness. 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spelling 2019-09-24T16:53:40.7436105 v2 26063 2016-02-02 Measurement of molecular mixing at a conjugated polymer interface by specular and off-specular neutron scattering 4db715667aa7bdc04e87b3ab696d206a 0000-0003-2804-8164 Anthony Higgins Anthony Higgins true false 537a2fe031a796a3bde99679ee8c24f5 0000-0002-7715-6914 Paul Rees Paul Rees true false d7db8d42c476dfa69c15ce06d29bd863 0000-0003-3628-2524 Rowan Brown Rowan Brown true false 2016-02-02 MEDE Measurements have been performed on thermally equilibrated conjugated-polymer/insulating-polymer bilayers, using specular and off-specular neutron reflectivity. While specular reflectivity is only sensitive to the structure normal to the sample, off-specular measurements can probe the structure of the buried polymer/polymer interface in the plane of the sample. Systematic analysis of the scattering from a set of samples with varying insulating-polymer-thickness, using the distorted-wave Born approximation (DWBA), has allowed a robust determination of the intrinsic width at the buried polymer/polymer interface. The quantification of this width (12 Å ± 4 Å) allows us to examine aspects of the conjugated polymer conformation at the interface, by appealing to self-consistent field theory (SCFT) predictions for equilibrium polymer/polymer interfaces in the cases of flexible and semi-flexible chains. This analysis enables us to infer that mixing at this particular interface cannot be described in terms of polymer chain segments that adopt conformations similar to a random walk. Instead, a more plausible explanation is that the conjugated polymer chain segments become significantly oriented in the plane of the interface. It is important to point out that we are only able to reach this conclusion following the extensive analysis of reflectivity data, followed by comparison with SCFT predictions. It is not simply the case that conjugated polymers would be expected to adopt this kind of oriented conformation at the interface, because of their relatively high chain stiffness. It is the combination of a high stiffness and a relatively narrow intrinsic interfacial width that results in a deviation from flexible chain behaviour. Journal Article Soft Matter 11 48 9393 9403 1744-683X 1744-6848 31 12 2015 2015-12-31 10.1039/C5SM02008E COLLEGE NANME Biomedical Engineering COLLEGE CODE MEDE Swansea University RCUK 2019-09-24T16:53:40.7436105 2016-02-02T16:48:07.4613343 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Biomedical Engineering David James 1 Anthony Higgins 0000-0003-2804-8164 2 Paul Rees 0000-0002-7715-6914 3 Mark Geoghegan 4 M. Rowan Brown 5 Shion-Seng Chang 6 Dyfrig Môn 7 Robert Cubitt 8 Robert Dalgliesh 9 Philipp Gutfreund 10 Rowan Brown 0000-0003-3628-2524 11 0026063-02022016135148.pdf HigginsMeasurementOfMolecularMixing2015.pdf 2016-02-02T13:51:48.0170000 Output 3257219 application/pdf Version of Record true 2016-02-02T00:00:00.0000000 true
title Measurement of molecular mixing at a conjugated polymer interface by specular and off-specular neutron scattering
spellingShingle Measurement of molecular mixing at a conjugated polymer interface by specular and off-specular neutron scattering
Anthony Higgins
Paul Rees
Rowan Brown
title_short Measurement of molecular mixing at a conjugated polymer interface by specular and off-specular neutron scattering
title_full Measurement of molecular mixing at a conjugated polymer interface by specular and off-specular neutron scattering
title_fullStr Measurement of molecular mixing at a conjugated polymer interface by specular and off-specular neutron scattering
title_full_unstemmed Measurement of molecular mixing at a conjugated polymer interface by specular and off-specular neutron scattering
title_sort Measurement of molecular mixing at a conjugated polymer interface by specular and off-specular neutron scattering
author_id_str_mv 4db715667aa7bdc04e87b3ab696d206a
537a2fe031a796a3bde99679ee8c24f5
d7db8d42c476dfa69c15ce06d29bd863
author_id_fullname_str_mv 4db715667aa7bdc04e87b3ab696d206a_***_Anthony Higgins
537a2fe031a796a3bde99679ee8c24f5_***_Paul Rees
d7db8d42c476dfa69c15ce06d29bd863_***_Rowan Brown
author Anthony Higgins
Paul Rees
Rowan Brown
author2 David James
Anthony Higgins
Paul Rees
Mark Geoghegan
M. Rowan Brown
Shion-Seng Chang
Dyfrig Môn
Robert Cubitt
Robert Dalgliesh
Philipp Gutfreund
Rowan Brown
format Journal article
container_title Soft Matter
container_volume 11
container_issue 48
container_start_page 9393
publishDate 2015
institution Swansea University
issn 1744-683X
1744-6848
doi_str_mv 10.1039/C5SM02008E
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Biomedical Engineering{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Biomedical Engineering
document_store_str 1
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description Measurements have been performed on thermally equilibrated conjugated-polymer/insulating-polymer bilayers, using specular and off-specular neutron reflectivity. While specular reflectivity is only sensitive to the structure normal to the sample, off-specular measurements can probe the structure of the buried polymer/polymer interface in the plane of the sample. Systematic analysis of the scattering from a set of samples with varying insulating-polymer-thickness, using the distorted-wave Born approximation (DWBA), has allowed a robust determination of the intrinsic width at the buried polymer/polymer interface. The quantification of this width (12 Å ± 4 Å) allows us to examine aspects of the conjugated polymer conformation at the interface, by appealing to self-consistent field theory (SCFT) predictions for equilibrium polymer/polymer interfaces in the cases of flexible and semi-flexible chains. This analysis enables us to infer that mixing at this particular interface cannot be described in terms of polymer chain segments that adopt conformations similar to a random walk. Instead, a more plausible explanation is that the conjugated polymer chain segments become significantly oriented in the plane of the interface. It is important to point out that we are only able to reach this conclusion following the extensive analysis of reflectivity data, followed by comparison with SCFT predictions. It is not simply the case that conjugated polymers would be expected to adopt this kind of oriented conformation at the interface, because of their relatively high chain stiffness. It is the combination of a high stiffness and a relatively narrow intrinsic interfacial width that results in a deviation from flexible chain behaviour.
published_date 2015-12-31T03:31:10Z
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