| While the temperature-responsive behavior of nonionic polymers has been extensively studied and is nowadays one of the key mechanisms of smart materials, the pressure response of thin films remains basically unexplored. We investigate the conformational transition of nonionic brushes and semidilute solutions induced by hydrostatic pressure and temperature variations. We demonstrate that the behavior can be understood and predicted with simple thermodynamic concepts employed so far for the denaturation of proteins. |  |
Published in:
S. Micciulla, P. Gutfreund, M. Kanduč, and L. Chiappisi, Macromolecules 2023, 56, 1177–1188