Publications
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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
- The mechanisms of recrystallization after melting in syndiotactic polypropylene and isotactic polystyrene
- M. Al-Hussein, G. Strobl. European Physical Journal E 6, 305-314 (2001)
- Effect of the Network on the Director Fluctuations in a Nematic Side-Group Elastomer Analysed by Static and Dynamic Light Scattering
- M. Schönstein, W. Stille, and G. Strobl. Eur. Phys. J. E 5, 511 (2001)
- A temperature- and molar mass-dependent change in the crystallization mechanism of poly(1-butene): Transition from chain-folded to chain-extended crystallization?
- Qiang Fu, Barbara Heck, Gert Strobl, Yi Thomann. Macromolecules 34, 2502-2511 (2001)
- Dynamics of Backbone Chain and Side Groups in a Nematic Liquid Single Crystal Elastomer Studied by Combined Mechanical and Stress-optical Measurements
- F. Schmidt, J. Siepmann, W. Stille and G. R. Strobl. Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. 350, 103 (2000)
- Negative excess interfacial entropy between free and end-grafted chemically identical polymers
- G. Reiter, R. Khanna. Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 5599-5602 (2000)
- The ABC of Pattern Evolution in Self-destruction of Thin Polymer Films
- R. Khanna, A. Sharma, G. Reiter. EPJdirect E 2, 1-9 (2000)
- Enhanced Instability in Thin Liquid Films by Improved Compatibility
- G. Reiter, R. Khanna, A. Sharma. Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 1432-1435 (2000)
- Friction of an Elastomer Sliding on Polymeric Model Surfaces
- A. Casoli, M. Brendlé, J. Schultz, P. Auroy, G. Reiter. Tribology Lett. 8, 249-253 (2000)
- Real time determination of the slippage length in autophobic polymer dewetting
- G. Reiter, R. Khanna. Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2753-2756 (2000)
- Kinetics of Autophobic Dewetting of Polymer Films
- G. Reiter, R. Khanna. Langmuir 16, 6351-6357 (2000)
- Morphologies of Diblock Copolymer Thin Films Before and After Crystallization
- G. Reiter, G. Castelein, P. Hoerner, G. Riess, J.-U. Sommer, G. Floudas. Eur. Phys. J. E. 2, 319-334 (2000)
- Polymer Crystallization in Quasi-2 Dimensions: II. Kinetic Models and Computer Simulations
- J.-U. Sommer, G. Reiter. J. Chem. Phys. 112, 4384-4393 (2000)
- Polymer Crystallization in Quasi-2 Dimensions: I. Experimental Results
- G. Reiter, J.-U. Sommer. J. Chem. Phys. 112, 4376-4383 (2000)
- Capillary rise in glass fabrics.
- J.M. Senecot, M. Nardin, G. Reiter, J. Schultz, P. Christou, P. Henrat. Le Vide: Science, Technique et Applications 296, 440-445 (2000)
- Etude par microscopie à force atomique de la cristallisation de polymères
- G. Reiter, G. Castelein, J.U. Sommer, L. Vidal. Actes du Forum des Microscopies à Sonde Locale, Marly le Roi, 7-9 mars 2000, p. 68-69
- Block crystallization in model triarm star block copolymers with two crystallizable blocks. A time-resolved SAXS-WAXS study
- G. Floudas, G. Reiter, O. Lambert, P. Dumas, F.J. Yeh, B. Chu. In: Scattering from Polymers: Characterization by X-rays, Neutrons, and Light. ACS Symposium Series 739 (2000) 448-455
- Light scattering by fluctuations within a nematic wetting layer in a isotropic phase of a liquid crystal
- R. Sigel, G. Strobl. Journal of Chemical Physics 112, 1029-1039 (2000)
- Temperature and strain rate independence of critical strains in polyethylene and poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate)
- S. Hobeika, Y. Men, G. Strobl. Macromolecules 33, 1827-1833 (2000)
- Investigating the mechanisms of polymer crystallization by SAXS experiments
- G. Hauser, J. Schmidtke, G. Strobl, T. Thurn-Albrecht. ACS Symposium Series 739, 140-151 (2000)
- Static and Dynamic Light Scattering of a Nematic Side-Group Polysiloxane
- Jürgen Schmidtke, Werner Stille, and Gert Strobl. Macromolecules 33, 2922 (2000)