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Updated: Aug 18, 2026
Self-assembling Morphologies Obtained from Helical Polycarbodiimide Copolymers and Their Triazole Derivatives
Published on: February 7, 2017
Atomic force microscopy study of the adsorption and electrostatic self-organization of poly(amidoamine) dendrimers on
Ramon Pericet-Camara1, Georg Papastavrou, Michal Borkovec
1Department of Inorganic, Analytical, and Applied Chemistry, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland.
Abstract:
The adsorption behavior of poly(amidoamine) dendrimers to mica surfaces was investigated as a function of ionic strength and pH. The conformation and lateral distribution of the adsorbed dendrimers of generations G8 and G10 were obtained ex situ by tapping mode atomic force microscopy (AFM). The deposition kinetics of the dendrimers was found to follow a diffusion-limited process. Fractional surface coverage and pair correlation functions of the adsorbed dendrimers were obtained from the AFM images. The data are interpreted in terms of the random sequential adsorption (RSA) model, where electrostatic repulsion due to overlapping double layers is considered. Although the general trends typical for an RSA-determined process are well-reproduced, quantitative agreement is lacking at low ionic strengths.
