Nanorheology of adsorbed polymer chains immersed in pure solvent

• Published in: The European physical journal. E, Soft matter and biological physics Vol. 38; no. 6; p. 58
• Main Authors: Lapique, Fabrice, Montfort, Jean Pierre, Derail, Christophe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.06.2015; EDP Sciences: EPJ
• Subjects: Biological and Medical Physics; Biophysics; Chemical Sciences; Complex Fluids and Microfluidics; Complex Systems; Nanotechnology; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Polymer Sciences; Polymers; Regular Article; Soft and Granular Matter; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films; Soft Matter: Polymers and Polyelectrolytes
• ISSN: 1292-8941; 1292-895X
• DOI: 10.1140/epje/i2015-15058-7

Long linear chains of polybutadiene are adsorbed on the two surfaces of a surface force apparatus and immersed in pure tetradecane. The hydrodynamic force was measured by drainage experiments and by frequency sweeps at constant distances. We related the hydrodynamic thickness to the chain dimension. The complex modulus encompasses the shear modulus and, at distances lower than the hydrodynamic thickness, a compression modulus. The compression term was related to the static force which appears when the two adsorbed layers are overlapped. The complex shear modulus was interpreted by a two-components hydrodynamic model proposed by P. Sens et al. We first complemented the theoretical model. Then, our experimental data fit the proposed viscoelastic expressions in the entire range of distances. The storage modulus is supposed to be affected by a residue of free chains and by the dispersion of the loop lengths. Graphical abstract