Dong Bao-Zhong

STUDY OF MESOPOROUS SILICA MATERIALS BY SMALL ANGLE X-RAY SCATTERING

Small angle X-ray scattering experiments have been performed to study the microstructure of mesoporous silica materials prepared by condensation of tetraethylorthosilicate using non-ionic alkylpolyethyleneoxide (AEO9) and ionic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) surfactant as templates. It is the pores within the nanometre range that produce the main scattering. The scattering of the pure silica systems obey Porods law. The scattering of the systems with templates remaining in the pores show positive deviations from Porods law. This may be because the templates produce some additional scattering background and then make the scattering of pores distorted. The results show that the full removal of templates from the pores of the materials by Soxhlet extraction is very easy for AEO9, but it is difficult for CTAB. The positive deviation correction is also performed.

Positive deviation from Debye's theory in small-angle x-ray scattering

The small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) resulting from a non-ideal two-phase system having sharply defined phase boundaries but with micro-fluctuations of electron density within any phase shows a positive deviation from Debyes theory. We have found a simple method suitable for fitting the slit-smeared SAXS data and correcting the positive deviation. The validity of this procedure is tested on porous ZrO2 xerogel prepared using the sol-gel process.

Self-assembly behaviour of amphiphilic diblock copolymer in selective solvents studied by synchrotron small-angle x-ray scattering

The aggregation behaviour of styrene-vinyl benzoic acid (PSm-b-PVBAn) amphiphilic diblock copolymers in selective solvents with different m and n was investigated by synchrotron small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS). We have carried out a detailed analysis of scattering intensity, dimension, shape and microstructure of the diblock copolymers of narrow distribution in water, methanol, ethanol and isopropanol selective solvents, respectively. We have found that the aggregation behaviour of the copolymer depends on the nature of the solvent and the micelle forms flat disc objects with the ratio of radius ω=0.4. The average radius gyration Rg of the copolymer decreases as solvents change from isopropanol to ethanol and to methanol and increases with increasing pH in aqueous solution, but decreases with the addition of CoCl2 in ethanol solvent. The scattering intensity of diblock copolymer micelle follows I(h)∝h-α in different selective solutions, suggesting that the PSm-b-PVBAn coils have self-similar structure behaviour or a fractal structure in the selective solvents. All of these revealed that the aggregation behaviour of the diblock copolymer changes dramatically with experimental condition in the selective solvent. The increase of mass fractal dimension (Dm) from 2.12 to 2.47 indicates that the copolymer chain changes from a swollen coil to a rather compact disc in the course of changing solvents, decreasing surface fractal dimension (Ds) from 2.98 to 2.58 indicates that the copolymer micelle change from a rather rough surface to a smooth form in the course of increasing pH in aqueous solutions and increasing Dm and Ds from 2.29 to 2.35 and 2.70 to 2.90, respectively, indicates the shrinkage of copolymer micelle to a rather compact and rough disc form by adding CoCl2 in ethanol solvents.

Small angle x-ray scattering study on the conformation of polystyrene in toluene during adding anti-solvent CO2

The conformation of polystyrene in the anti-solvent process of supercritical fluids (compressed CO2 + polystyrene + toluene) has been studied by small angle x-ray scattering with synchrotron radiation as an x-ray source. Coil-to-globule transformation of the polystyrene chain was observed with the increase of the anti-solvent CO2 pressure; i.e. polystyrene coiled at a pressure lower than the cloud point pressure (Pc) and turned into a globule with a uniform density at pressures higher than Pc. Fractal behaviour was also found in the chain contraction and the mass fractal dimension increased with increasing CO2 pressure.