Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 10, 2026

Synthesis of Cyclic Polymers and Characterization of Their Diffusive Motion in the Melt State at the Single Molecule Level
Published on: September 26, 2016
Polymer Diffusion in the Interphase Between Surface and Solution
Lukas Weger1, Monika Weidmann1, Wael Ali
1Department of Chemistry , Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences , Adlerstr. 32 , 47798 Krefeld , Germany.
Abstract:
Total internal reflection fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (TIR-FCS) is applied to study the self-diffusion of poly(ethylene glycol) solutions in the presence of weakly attractive interfaces. Glass coverslips modified with aminopropyl- and propyl-terminated silanes are used to study the influence of solid surfaces on polymer diffusion. A model of three phases of polymer diffusion allows to describe the experimental fluorescence autocorrelation functions. Besides the two-dimensional diffusion of adsorbed polymer on the substrate and three-dimensional free diffusion in bulk solution, a third diffusion time scale is observed with intermediate diffusion times. This retarded three-dimensional diffusion in the solution is assigned to the long-range effects of solid surfaces on diffusional dynamics of polymers. The respective diffusion constants show Rouse scaling ( D ∼ N-1), indicating a screening of hydrodynamic interactions by the presence of the surface. Hence, the presented TIR-FCS method proves to be a valuable tool to investigate the effect of surfaces on polymer diffusion beyond the first adsorbed polymer layer on the 100 nm length scale.
Related Concept Videos
Interphase
Interphase
Phases of Interphase
Following each period of mitosis and cytokinesis, eukaryotic cells enter interphase, during which they grow and replicate...
Polymers
Polymers
Diffusion
Diffusion

