Journal
POLYMER
Volume 53, Issue 4, Pages 1005-1014Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2012.01.006
Keywords
Coil-to-rod conformational transition; Single chain structure; Graft copolymer
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [21104017, 20974114, 21174156]
- Hunan Provincial Education Department [11C0383]
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The chain conformation and individual chain structures of the graft copolymers ethyl cellulose grafting poly (acrylic acid) (EC-g-PAA) were investigated by laser light scattering (LLS) and atom force microscopy (AFM). The EC-g-PAA graft copolymers with two different side chain lengths and side chain grafting densities were synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) from ethyl cellulose as the backbone. The graft copolymer molecules are adsorbed on the mica surface, and the observed single molecule structures by AFM reflect the molecular conformation in solution. An increase of the graft density of the graft copolymer induces the conformational transition due to the repulsion between side chains from coil to rod conformation. The observed disclike and rodlike single chain structures response to the coil and rod conformations, respectively. The results provide a direct visual experimental evidence of chain conformational and single chain structural transitions for graft copolymers in common solvents induced by graft density. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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