Radiom Milad, Maroni Plinio, Borkovec Michal
Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, University of Geneva, Quai Ernest-Ansermet 30, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland.
ACS Macro Lett. 2017 Oct 17;6(10):1052-1055. doi: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.7b00652. Epub 2017 Sep 13.
Single molecule mechanics of poly(styrene) polymer chains is investigated in different organic solvents with atomic force microscopy (AFM). The acquired force-extension profiles can be well fitted with a modified freely jointed chain (FJC) model. The model describes the force-extension profiles in terms of an apparent Kuhn length and an elasticity constant. The elasticity constant is found to be the same for all different solvents investigated. Best fit of the force-extension profiles with the FJC model reveals that the Kuhn length varies systematically with solvent quality. In fact, one can establish a good correlation between the Kuhn length and the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter. The increase in the Kuhn length with increasing solvent quality reflects the larger extent of swelling of the polymer in good solvents.
