Tuning Polymer-Grafted Particle Monolayer Structure at the Air-Water Interface by Introducing Anisotropic Features

Emiko Mouri,Yo Yamasaki,Motokazu Terada

doi:10.4236/msce.2018.61002

Abstract

Fabrication of anisotropic material is one of the important topics and we examined to introduce “anisotropic” nature by spreading polymer-grafted particle on the medium with polymer-reactive potential. Poly (tert-butyl methacrylate) (PtBMA) was polymerized from polystyrene latex (PSL) surface by ATRP to give PtBMA-grafted PSL (PSL-PtBMA). Particle monolayer was formed at air-water and air-acidic water interfaces and the monolayer characteristics were compared by π-A isotherm measurements, SEM observations, and contact angle measurements. π-A isotherms, in particular, indicates that the interaction between polymer chains become stronger by changing the subphase condition, which suggests that anisotropicparticle monolayer formation.

Highlights

A particle at interface is a simplest system concerning interfaces and has wide variety of interests ranging from basic science to industrial process [1]
Particle monolayer was formed at air-water and air-acidic water interfaces and the monolayer characteristics were compared by π-A isotherm measurements, SEM observations, and contact angle measurements. π-A isotherms, in particular, indicates that the interaction between polymer chains become stronger by changing the subphase condition, which suggests that anisotropicparticle monolayer formation
Expected occupied area with polystyrene latex (PSL) particles with closest packing is indicated by straight line in Figure 1, which shows more than 1/10 smaller area

Summary

Introduction

A particle at interface is a simplest system concerning interfaces and has wide variety of interests ranging from basic science to industrial process [1]. In particular, there has been a great interest in creating materials with anisotropic property. One is to fabricate materials with anisotropic shape such as disc or rod. Another is to make anisotropic nature with spherical shape, i.e., Janus particles [2] [3]. In the latter category, preparation process is further categorized into two. One is to making use of association behavior like micelle or emulsion including non-equilibrium status [4] [5] [6]

Methods

Results

Conclusion