Investigating the Interplay of Folding and Aggregation in Supramolecular Polymer Systems
2024.08.20
The material properties of polymers are determined by the competition between polymer chain folding and aggregation. For the first time, researchers from Japan developed folded supramolecular polymers that can spontaneously undergo interchain aggregation. Using atomic force microscopy, they revealed that this interchain aggregation proceeded through the unfolding of the main chains. They also demonstrated that the photoisomerization of an azobenzene unit led to the unfolding of the polymer, thus accelerating the process of interchain aggregation.
