Coherent Kinetic Control over Crystal Orientation in Macroscopic Ensembles of Polymer Nanorods and Nanotubes

Martin Steinhart, Petra Göring, Haissam Dernaika, Munusamy Prabhukaran, Ulrich Gösele, Elke Hempel, and Thomas Thurn-Albrecht

Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 027801 – Published 11 July 2006

Abstract

We show that the crystal orientation in polymer nanotubes and nanorods inside porous templates is controlled by the kinetics of nucleation and growth under 2D confinement. Two clear limiting cases are identified: In separated nanostructures, any crystal orientation allowing the growth of lamellar crystals along the pores appears statistically. If a bulklike surface film connects the nanostructures, macroscopic arrays with uniform crystal orientation are obtained, in which the dominant growth direction of the crystals is aligned with the long axes of the pores of the template.

Received 26 January 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.027801

Authors & Affiliations

Martin Steinhart^*, Petra Göring, Haissam Dernaika^†, Munusamy Prabhukaran^†, and Ulrich Gösele

Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Weinberg 2, D-6120 Halle, Germany

Elke Hempel and Thomas Thurn-Albrecht^‡

Department of Physics, Martin Luther University, Hoher Weg 8, D-06120 Halle, Germany

^*Electronic address: steinhart@mpi-halle.de
^†Also at Department of Physics, Martin Luther University, Hoher Weg 8, D-06120 Halle, Germany.
^‡Electronic address: thurn-albrecht@physik.uni-halle.de

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Issue

Vol. 97, Iss. 2 — 14 July 2006

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