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Soft Matter 2021 Jan 22. Epub 2021 Jan 22.

Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Smart Interfacial Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China.

Using self-consistent field calculations, we examine the effect of brush polydispersity on conformational transitions of single adsorption-active diblock copolymer chains embedded in inert polydisperse brushes. To represent the polydispersity, we adopt the continuous Schulz-Zimm chain length distributions, and three typical distributions are chosen such that a wide range of polydispersity is covered. A phase diagram of the diblock copolymer switches has been constructed showing that the first order phase transitions occupy a larger space in the case of polydisperse brushes. Read More

Membranes (Basel) 2020 Dec 7;10(12). Epub 2020 Dec 7.

Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Institute of Polymer Research, Max-Planck-Str. 1, 21502 Geesthacht, Germany.

Isoporous membranes can be prepared by a combination of self-assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers and the non-solvent induced phase separation process. As the general doctor-blade technique suffers from high consumption of expensive block copolymer, other methods to reduce its concentration in the casting solution are sought after. Decreasing the block copolymer concentration during membrane casting and applying the block copolymer solution on a support membrane to obtain ultrathin isoporous membrane layers with e. Read More

ACS Cent Sci 2020 Nov 29;6(11):2031-2045. Epub 2020 Oct 29.

School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), 62 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637459.

Gram-negative bacteria cannot be easily eradicated by antibiotics and are a major source of recalcitrant infections of indwelling medical devices. Among various device-associated infections, intravascular catheter infection is a leading cause of mortality. Prior approaches to surface modification, such as antibiotics impregnation, hydrophilization, unstructured NO-releasing, etc. Read More

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2020 Nov 2;12(45):50929-50940. Epub 2020 Nov 2.

College of Physics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.

Well-dispersed and dense layers of gold nanorods (AuNRs) on optical fibers are shown to regulate the longitudinal peak wavelength and enhance the sensing performances of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) biosensors. A simple self-assembly method relying on a brush-like monolayer of poly(styrene)--poly(acrylic acid) (PS--PAA) diblock copolymer was used to immobilize AuNRs with various aspect ratios from 2.33 to 4. Read More

Nanoscale 2020 Nov 9;12(41):21188-21197. Epub 2020 Oct 9.

Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Bolzmanngasse 5, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.

Molecular building blocks undergoing a hierarchical assembly process form nano-scale objects which can further assemble into supramolecular structures. When the intermediate units have a limited valence in bonding, complex structures with tailored properties can be created. Here, we consider a composite, star-shaped particle made of f diblock copolymer chains uniformly grafted on a spherical colloid and investigate its first self-assembly stage both in the bulk and under lateral confinement. Read More