Lamellar structural forces

Recent developments have allowed atomic force microscopic (AFM) studies to follow the course of spherulite development and the internal lamellar structures as the spherulite evolves [206-209]. The major steps in spherulite formation were followed by AFM for poly(bisphenol) A octane ether [210,211] and more recently, as seen in the example of Figure 12 for a propylene 1-hexene copolymer [212] with 20 mol% comonomer. Accommodation of significant content of 1-hexene in the lattice allows formation and propagation of sheaf-like lamellar structure in this copolymer. The onset of sheave formation is clearly discerned in the micrographs of Figure 12 after crystallization for 10 h. Branching and development of the sheave are shown at later times. The direct observation of sheave and spherulitic formation by AFM supports the major features that have been deduced from transmission electron and optical microscopy. The fibrous internal spherulite structure could be directly observed by AFM. 

A uniform monolayer surface depends upon it having been deposited on a flat electrode substrate. Impressive flatness can be achieved with the semi-metal graphite, a lamellar structure with weak van der Waals forces between the layers. A clean... 

Liquid crystals stabilize in several ways. The lamellar structure leads to a strong reduction of the van der Waals forces during the coalescence step. The mathematical treatment of this problem is fairly complex (28). A diagram of the van der Waals potential (Fig. 15) illustrates the phenomenon (29). Without the liquid crystalline phase, coalescence takes place over a thin liquid film in a distance range, where the slope of the van der Waals potential is steep, ie, there is a large van der Waals force. With the liquid crystal present, coalescence takes place over a thick film and the slope of the van der Waals potential is small. In addition, the liquid crystal is highly viscous, and two droplets separated by a viscous film of liquid crystal with only a small compressive force exhibit stability against coalescence. Finally, the network of liquid crystalline leaflets (30) hinders the free mobility of the emulsion droplets. 

For neutral bilayers, there are no long-range doublelayer forces which, coupled with the van der Waals attraction, could explain the stability of the lamellar structure. At small separations, the required repulsion is provided by the hydration force, which was investigated both experimentally6-8 and theoretically.9,10 However, it was experimentally observed that the lipid bilayers could be swollen in water up to very large interlayer distances,11 where the short-range exponential hydration repulsion becomes negligible. 

A crystal structure of the 1 1 adduct of 1,10-phenanthroline and the seven coordinate species, [Mn(199)(H20)2](C104)2, indicates that the phenanthroline molecule is not coordinated to the manganese but is sandwiched between [Mn(I99)(H20)2]2+ units in a lamellar structure.136 The phenanthroline nitrogens are hydrogen bound to water molecules in adjacent complex ions the structure also appears to be held together by it donor/rc acceptor and dispersion forces. 

LB films of five new hybrid dimethyidioctadecylammonium/heteropolyanions DODA/HPA (HPA=[PZ(H20)M0 03,], Z=Co, Cu, Mn, Zn, Ni) were prepared and characterized by it-A isotherms, UV-Vis absorption spectra, IR spectra, small-angle X-ray diffraction (SAXD), and atomic force microscope (AFM). The results show that these compounds have good film-forming property on the air-water interface. The collapse pressure of LB films is 28.7-37.5mN/m. The area per molecule is 28.18-49.07 nm mol". The LB films have lamellar structures in which the monolayers of the heteropolyanions alternate with bilayers of DODA to form centrally symmetrical LB films. 

Intercalation constitutes an important case of inclusion phenomena in which the host lattice is characterized by a lamellar structure [39]. Graphite yields both anion and cation intercalation compounds and charge transfer processes are the driving forces for their formation. 

Structural forces due to long-range positional order are quite easily observed in the smectic A liquid crystals. SFA measurements have been performed on lamellar lyotropic smectics [42,43] and in thermotropic smectics [44-46]. These works extend to a nanometer scale the early studies on elasticity, viscoelastic response and layers instability of smectic A, observed in macroscopic wedge-shaped piezoelectric cells [47,48]. 

Fig. 3.18 shows a typical force curve for an aqueous solution of an anionic surfactant and an alcohol (weight composition 7.2% sodium dodecyl sulfate, 17.5% 1-pentanol, 75.3% water), that forms a lamellar smectic A phase at room temperature and alignes homeotropically on bare mica [43]. The structural force is characterized by periodic damped oscillations, with... 

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