Determining Preparation-Induced Differences in Local Forces Acting along Polymer Chains in Spin-Coated Films
Meirui Fu, Raphael Hertel, Bence Dajka, Michael Walter, Michael Sommer, Günter Reiter · 2026
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Description
Meirui Fu and co-authors use glowing molecular force sensors to measure the forces acting along polymer chains inside spin-coated thin films. They built light-emitting mechanochromophores, molecules that change their light output under force, directly into a glassy polymer backbone. Their 2026 study reads those optical signals as tiny springs reporting local stress.
Shifts in the glow's peak position revealed the main force on the chains, while changes in the spectrum's shape showed how many chains carried lower or higher forces. Films spun under different conditions, summarised by a preparation parameter, showed distinct force distributions. The team linked chain-level forces to the residual stresses measured across whole films, which reflect the combined response of many chains. Notably, the two measures did not vary in the same way with preparation conditions, showing that film-making history is written unevenly into individual chains.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Meirui Fu, Raphael Hertel, Bence Dajka, Michael Walter, Michael Sommer, Günter Reiter |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 23 KB |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |