MORPHOLOGICAL OBSERVATION OF SINGLE-CHAIN POLY (METHYL METHACRYLATE) PARTICLES

Tapping mode atomic force microscope has been applied to observe single-chain PMMAparticles which were stored for six months at room temperature after sprayed from verydilute solutions in good solvents, good/poor mixed solvents, and a theta solvent. Monodis-perse PMMA standards of molecular weights ranging from 7.90×10;to 1.3×10;wereused to investigate the effect of molecular weight oh the size of the single-chain PMMAparticles. These single-chain particles showed close to spherical shapes. The morphologyof single-chain PMMA particles of a given molecular weight was found to be identical inspite of different solvents used for solution spraying. Molecular weigh dependence of theparticle dimension was also found. The diameters of single-chain PMMA particles aftercorrection of tlp-geometry effect were compared to the values estimated from molecularweight and density.