TY - JOUR A1 - Weis, Philipp A1 - Hess, Andreas A1 - Kircher, Gunnar A1 - Huang, Shilin A1 - Auernhammer, Günter K. A1 - Koynov, Kaloian A1 - Butt, Hans-Jürgen A1 - Wu, Si T1 - Effects of Spacers on Photoinduced Reversible Solid-to-Liquid Transitions of Azobenzene-Containing Polymers JF - Chemistry - a European journal N2 - Photoisomerization in some azobenzene-containing polymers (azopolymers) results in reversible solid-to-liquid transitions because trans- and cis-azopolymers have different glass transition temperatures. This property enables photoinduced healing and processing of azopolymers with high spatiotemporal resolution. However, a general lack of knowledge about the influence of the polymer structure on photoinduced reversible solid-to-liquid transitions hinders the design of such novel polymers. Herein, the synthesis and photoresponsive behavior of new azopolymers with different lengths of spacers between the polymer backbone and the azobenzene group on the side chain are reported. Azopolymers with no and 20 methylene spacers did not show photoinduced solid-to-liquid transitions. Azopolymers with 6 or 12 methylene spacers showed photoinduced solid-to-liquid transitions. This study demonstrates that spacers are essential for azopolymers with photoinduced reversible solid-to-liquid transitions, and thus, gives an insight into how to design azopolymers for photoinduced healing and processing. KW - azobenzenes KW - isomerization KW - photochemistry KW - polymers KW - self-healing Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201902273 SN - 0947-6539 SN - 1521-3765 VL - 25 IS - 46 SP - 10946 EP - 10953 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Blavatska, Viktoria A1 - Metzler, Ralf T1 - Conformational properties of complex polymers: rosette versus star-like structures JF - Journal of physics : A, Mathematical and theoretical N2 - Multiple loop formation in polymer macromolecules is an important feature of the chromatin organization and DNA compactification in the nuclei. We analyse the size and shape characteristics of complex polymer structures, containing in general f(1) loops (petals) and f(2) linear chains (branches). Within the frames of continuous model of Gaussian macromolecule, we apply the path integration method and obtain the estimates for gyration radius R-g and asphericity (A) over cap of typical conformation as functions of parameters f(1), f(2). In particular, our results qualitatively reveal the extent of anisotropy of star-like topologies as compared to the rosette structures of the same total molecular weight. KW - polymers KW - path integration KW - conformational properties Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1751-8113/48/13/135001 SN - 1751-8113 SN - 1751-8121 VL - 48 IS - 13 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Couturier, Jean-Philippe A1 - Sütterlin, Martin A1 - Laschewsky, André A1 - Hettrich, Cornelia A1 - Wischerhoff, Erik T1 - Responsive Inverse Opal Hydrogels for the Sensing of Macromolecules JF - Angewandte Chemie : a journal of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker ; International edition N2 - Dual responsive inverse opal hydrogels were designed as autonomous sensor systems for (bio)macromolecules, exploiting the analyte-induced modulation of the opal's structural color. The systems that are based on oligo(ethylene glycol) macromonomers additionally incorporate comonomers with various recognition units. They combine a coil-to-globule collapse transition of the LCST type with sensitivity of the transition temperature toward molecular recognition processes. This enables the specific detection of macromolecular analytes, such as glycopolymers and proteins, by simple optical methods. While the inverse opal structure assists the effective diffusion even of large analytes into the photonic crystal, the stimulus responsiveness gives rise to strong shifts of the optical Bragg peak of more than 100nm upon analyte binding at a given temperature. The systems' design provides a versatile platform for the development of easy-to-use, fast, and low-cost sensors for pathogens. KW - hydrogels KW - photonic crystals KW - polymers KW - responsive materials KW - sensors Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201500674 SN - 1433-7851 SN - 1521-3773 VL - 54 IS - 22 SP - 6641 EP - 6644 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Shin, Jaeoh A1 - Cherstvy, Andrey G. A1 - Kim, Won Kyu A1 - Metzler, Ralf T1 - Facilitation of polymer looping and giant polymer diffusivity in crowded solutions of active particles JF - New journal of physics : the open-access journal for physics N2 - We study the dynamics of polymer chains in a bath of self-propelled particles (SPP) by extensive Langevin dynamics simulations in a two-dimensional model system. Specifically, we analyse the polymer looping properties versus the SPP activity and investigate how the presence of the active particles alters the chain conformational statistics. We find that SPPs tend to extend flexible polymer chains, while they rather compactify stiffer semiflexible polymers, in agreement with previous results. Here we show that higher activities of SPPs yield a higher effective temperature of the bath and thus facilitate the looping kinetics of a passive polymer chain. We explicitly compute the looping probability and looping time in a wide range of the model parameters. We also analyse the motion of a monomeric tracer particle and the polymer's centre of mass in the presence of the active particles in terms of the time averaged mean squared displacement, revealing a giant diffusivity enhancement for the polymer chain via SPP pooling. Our results are applicable to rationalising the dimensions and looping kinetics of biopolymers at constantly fluctuating and often actively driven conditions inside biological cells or in suspensions of active colloidal particles or bacteria cells. KW - diffusion KW - active transport KW - polymers Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/17/11/113008 SN - 1367-2630 VL - 17 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vukicevic, Radovan A1 - Neffe, Axel T. A1 - Luetzow, Karola A1 - Pierce, Benjamin F. A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Conditional Ultrasound Sensitivity of Poly[(N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-(vinyl imidazole)] Microgels for Controlled Lipase Release JF - Macromolecular rapid communications N2 - Triggering the release of cargo from a polymer network by ultrasonication as an external, non-invasive stimulus can be an interesting concept for on-demand release. Here, it is shown that, in pH-and thermosensitive microgels, the ultrasound sensitivity of the polymer network depends on the external conditions. Crosslinked poly[(N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-(vinyl imidazole)] microgels showed a volume phase transition temperature (VPTT) of 25-50 degrees C, which increases with decreasing pH. Above the VPTT the polymer chains are collapsed, while below VPTT they are extended. Only in the case of maximum observed swelling, where the polymer chains are expanded, the microgels are mechanically fragmented through ultrasonication. In contrast, when the polymer chains are partially collapsed it is not possible to manipulate the microgels by ultrasound. Additionally, the ultrasound-induced on-demand release of wheat germ lipase from the microgels could be demonstrated successfully. The principle of conditional ultrasound sensitivity is likely to be general and can be used for selection of matrix-cargo combinations. KW - ultrasound KW - polymers KW - microgels KW - lipase release KW - controlled release KW - thermoresponsive polymers KW - biomaterials Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/marc.201500311 SN - 1022-1336 SN - 1521-3927 VL - 36 IS - 21 SP - 1891 EP - 1896 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Liedel, Clemens A1 - Lewin, Christian A1 - Tsarkova, Larisa A1 - Böker, Alexander T1 - Reversible Switching of Block Copolymer Nanopatterns by Orthogonal Electric Fields JF - Small N2 - It is demonstrated that the orientation of striped patterns can be reversibly switched between two perpendicular in-plane orientations upon exposure to electric fields. The results on thin films of symmetric polystyrene-block-poly(2-vinyl pyridine) polymer in the intermediate segregation regime disclose two types of reorientation mechanisms from perpendicular to parallel relative to the electric field orientation. Domains orient via grain rotation and via formation of defects such as stretched undulations and temporal phase transitions. The contribution of additional fields to the structural evolution is also addressed to elucidate the generality of the observed phenomena. In particular solvent effects are considered. This study reveals the stabilization of the meta-stable in-plane oriented lamella due to sequential swelling and quenching of the film. Further, the reorientation behavior of lamella domains blended with selective nanoparticles is addressed, which affect the interfacial tensions of the blocks and hence introduce another internal field to the studied system. Switching the orientation of aligned block copolymer patterns between two orthogonal directions may open new applications of nanomaterials as switchable electric nanowires or optical gratings. KW - alignments KW - block copolymers KW - electric fields KW - reorientation KW - solvent vapor annealing KW - polymers Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201502259 SN - 1613-6810 SN - 1613-6829 VL - 11 IS - 45 SP - 6058 EP - 6064 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Shin, Jaeoh A1 - Cherstvy, Andrey G. A1 - Metzler, Ralf T1 - Mixing and segregation of ring polymers: spatial confinement and molecular crowding effects JF - New journal of physics : the open-access journal for physics N2 - During the life cycle of bacterial cells the non-mixing of the two ring-shaped daughter genomes is an important prerequisite for the cell division process. Mimicking the environments inside highly crowded biological cells, we study the dynamics and statistical behavior of two flexible ring polymers in the presence of cylindrical confinement and crowding molecules. From extensive computer simulations we determine the degree of ring-ring overlap and the number of inter-monomer contacts for varying volume fractions phi of crowders. We also examine the entropic demixing of polymer rings in the presence of mobile crowders and determine the characteristic times of the internal polymer dynamics. Effects of the ring length on ring-ring overlap are also analyzed. In particular, on systematic variation of the fraction of crowding molecules, a (1 - phi)-scaling is found for the ring-ring overlap length along the cylinder axis, and a non-monotonic dependence of the 3D ring-ring contact number with a maximum at phi approximate to 0.2 is obtained. Our results demonstrate that polymer rings are demixed and separated by particular entropy-favourable partitioning of crowders along the axis of the cylindrical simulation box. These findings help to rationalize the implications of macromolecular crowding for circular DNA molecules in confined spaces inside bacteria as well as in localized cellular compartments inside eukaryotic cells. KW - polymers KW - confinement KW - crowding Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/16/5/053047 SN - 1367-2630 VL - 16 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kappel, Marcel A1 - Abel, Markus A1 - Gerhard, Reimund T1 - Characterization and calibration of piezoelectric polymers in situ measurements of body vibrations JF - Review of scientific instruments : a monthly journal devoted to scientific instruments, apparatus, and techniques N2 - Piezoelectric polymers are known for their flexibility in applications, mainly due to their bending ability, robustness, and variable sensor geometry. It is an optimal material for minimal-invasive investigations in vibrational systems, e.g., for wood, where acoustical impedance matches particularly well. Many applications may be imagined, e. g., monitoring of buildings, vehicles, machinery, alarm systems, such that our investigations may have a large impact on technology. Longitudinal piezoelectricity converts mechanical vibrations normal to the polymer-film plane into an electrical signal, and the respective piezoelectric coefficient needs to be carefully determined in dependence on the relevant material parameters. In order to evaluate efficiency and durability for piezopolymers, we use polyvinylidene fluoride and measure the piezoelectric coefficient with respect to static pressure, amplitude of the dynamically applied force, and long-term stability. A known problem is the slow relaxation of the material towards equilibrium, if the external pressure changes; here, we demonstrate how to counter this problem with careful calibration. Since our focus is on acoustical measurements, we determine accurately the frequency response curve - for acoustics probably the most important characteristic. Eventually, we show that our piezopolymer transducers can be used as a calibrated acoustical sensors for body vibration measurements on a wooden musical instrument, where it is important to perform minimal-invasive measurements. A comparison with the simultaneously recorded airborne sound yields important insight of the mechanism of sound radiation in comparison with the sound propagating in the material. This is especially important for transient signals, where not only the long-living eigenmodes contribute to the sound radiation. Our analyses support that piezopolymer sensors can be employed as a general tool for the determination of the internal dynamics of vibrating systems. KW - acoustic transducers KW - calibration KW - durability KW - electric sensing devices KW - piezoelectricity KW - polymers Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3607435 SN - 0034-6748 VL - 82 IS - 7 PB - American Institute of Physics CY - Melville ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cherstvy, Andrey G. T1 - Critical polyelectrolyte adsorption under confinement Planar slit, cylindrical pore, and spherical cavity JF - Biopolymers N2 - We explore the properties of adsorption of flexible polyelectrolyte chains in confined spaces between the oppositely charged surfaces in three basic geometries. A method of approximate uniformly valid solutions for the Green function equation for the eigenfunctions of polymer density distributions is developed to rationalize the critical adsorption conditions. The same approach was implemented in our recent study for the inverse problem of polyelectrolyte adsorption onto a planar surface, and on the outer surface of rod-like and spherical obstacles. For the three adsorption geometries investigated, the theory yields simple scaling relations for the minimal surface charge density that triggers the chain adsorption, as a function of the Debye screening length and surface curvature. The encapsulation of polyelectrolytes is governed by interplay of the electrostatic attraction energy toward the adsorbing surface and entropic repulsion of the chain squeezed into a thin slit or small cavities. Under the conditions of surface-mediated confinement, substantially larger polymer linear charge densities are required to adsorb a polyelectrolyte inside a charged spherical cavity, relative to a cylindrical pore and to a planar slit (at the same interfacial surface charge density). Possible biological implications are discussed briefly in the end. KW - polymers KW - adsorption KW - electrostatics KW - confinement Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/bip.22023 SN - 0006-3525 VL - 97 IS - 5 SP - 311 EP - 317 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fandrich, Artur A1 - Buller, Jens A1 - Wischerhoff, Erik A1 - Laschewsky, André A1 - Lisdat, Fred T1 - Electrochemical detection of the thermally induced phase transition of a thin stimuli-responsive polymer film JF - ChemPhysChem : a European journal of chemical physics and physical chemistry KW - cyclic voltammetry KW - electrochemical impedance spectroscopy KW - polymers KW - surface chemistry KW - surface plasmon resonance Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/cphc.201100924 SN - 1439-4235 VL - 13 IS - 8 SP - 2020 EP - 2023 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER -