6533b85bfe1ef96bd12bb2c0

RESEARCH PRODUCT

QENS from polymeric micelles in supercritical CO[sub 2]

subject

description

We report QENS measurements from PS-b-PFOA aggregates in supercritical CO2. These consist of dense cores of CO2-insoluble polystyrene surrounded by a ‘corona’ of PFOA surfactant molecules whose CO2-philic groups interface with supercritical CO2. Lineshapes are dominated by localized diffusive modes and segmental dynamics of the anchored, finite-length PFOA chains. For Q∼0.6 A−1, we obtain effective diffusion coefficients of ≈0.8×10−6 cm2/sec. At higher Q, a single component is not sufficient as shown by excess intensity on the flanks. For Q>1.5 A−1, the wings reflect contributions due to a distribution of faster, more localized chain modes.