Browsing by Author "Li, Yen-Cheng"

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Fractal aggregates of conjugated polymer in solution state
(2006-12-19)
Li, Yen-Cheng
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Chen, Kuei-Bai
;
Chen, Hsin-Lung
;
Hsu, Chain-Shu
;
Tsao, Cheng-Si
Semirigid conjugated polymers have received much scientific and technological interest due to their unique electrical and photonic semiconducting properties. Spectroscopic studies have indicated that these polymers underwent interchain aggregation in the solution state even at large dilution; however, the origin of this event and the structure of the resultant aggregates remained the crucial issues to be resolved. In the present study, we revealed that the interchain aggregation of a conjugated polymer, poly(2,3-diphenyl-5-hexyl-1,4-phenylenevinylene) (DP6-PPV), in solutions with chloroform and toluene generated network aggregates with the hydrodynamic radii of several micrometers. Small angle neutron scattering (SANS) demonstrated that the internal structure of these aggregates could be characterized by the mass fractal dimensions of 2.2-2.7. The networks were looser in chloroform but became highly compact in the poorer toluene solvent due to severe segmental association. Increasing the temperature alleviated the segmental association in toluene while largely retaining the mass fractal dimension of the aggregates. However, the interchain aggregation was never completely dissipated by the heating, suggesting the existence of two types of segmental association with distinct stability. The highly stable segmental association that could neither be solvated by chloroform nor be disrupted thermally in toluene was attributed to the d-d complex already present in the DP6-PPV powder used for the solution preparation. The chains tied firmly by this complex formed network aggregates in the solution and hence reduced the entropy of mixing of the polymer. In the poorer toluene solvent, further segmental association took place within the preexisting aggregates, making the networks more compact. This type of segmental association could be disrupted by moderate heating, and its occurrence was ascribed to the poor affinity of the aliphatic side chains of DP6-PPV for toluene.
Pt-Pd Floating Nanoarrays Templated on Pluronic F127 Micelles as Effective Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Sensors
(2019-04-01)
Chang, Fang-Ching
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Li, Yen-Cheng
;
Wu, Ren-Jye
;
Chen, Chun-Hua
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材料科學與工程學系
An innovative concept of floating nanoarrays (FNAs) as promising new-generation surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensors was proposed for the first time and has been successfully realized via a facile triblock-copolymer-assisted chemical route. At least two categories of the complicated highly uniform Pt-Pd FNAs with a fairly small assembled diameter of less than 100 nm respectively consisted of quasi-orderly assembled spherical and petal-like nanocrystals with unique radially distributed compositions were evidently classified and reproducibly fabricated. The synthesized Pt-Pd FNAs were found to exhibit unusually strong surface plasmon resonance bands in the visible region and have been successfully demonstrated as practical SERS sensors with remarkably low analytical limits of detection.
Scattering Study of the Conformational Structure and Aggregation Behavior of a Conjugated Polymer Solution
(2009-04-21)
Li, Yen-Cheng
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Chen, Chun-Yu
;
Chang, Ying-Xun
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Chuang, Pei-Ying
;
Chen, Jean-Hong
The conformational structure and the interchain aggregation behavior of a semirigid conjugated polymer bearing a decyl side chain, poly(2,3-diphenyl-5-decyl-1,4-phenylenevinylene) (DP10-PPV), in solutions with chloroform and toluene have been investigated by means of small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), static light scattering (SLS) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The radius of gyration, persistence length, and the second virial coefficient of the polymer in dilute solution as determined by SLS were higher in chloroform than in toluene; consequently, the polymer assumed a more extended wormlike chain conformation in the former. The difference in the strength of interaction in the two solvents gave rise to contrasting aggregation behavior of the polymer in the semidilute regime. While only a minor fraction of the polymer underwent segmental association in chloroform, a considerable fraction of it formed clusters (microgels) with several micrometers in size in toluene. These clusters were further found to consist of sheetlike nanodomains. Compared with the DP-PPV bearing a shorter hexyl side chain, DP6-PPV, the aggregates of DP10-PPV in toluene were weaker as they could be easily disrupted by moderate heating. This was attributed to a lack of strong pi-pi interaction between the DP10-PPV segments due to the greater steric hindrance imposed by the longer decyl side chains.
Thermally-induced order-order transition of DNA-cationic surfactant complexes
(2006-08-29)
Hsu, Wei-Long
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Li, Yen-Cheng
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Chen, Hsin-Lung
;
Liou, Willisa
;
Jeng, U-Ser
Polyanionic DNA interacts with cationic amphiphiles to form electrostatic complexes exhibiting rich self-assembled structures. This type of complex has been considered as a nonviral carrier in gene therapy and as a template for nanostructure construction. Here we report a thermally-induced phase transition of the complexes of DNA with the mixtures of a cationic surfactant, dodecyltrimethyl bromide (DTAB), and a neutral lipid, dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE), in fully hydrated state. An order-order transition between a multilamellar (L-alpha(c)) phase and an inverted hexagonal (H-II(c)) phase was found to occur with the transition temperature adjustable by the DTAB-to-DNA base pair molar ratio (x) and DOPE-to-DTAB molar ratio (m). The stability of the L-alpha(c) phase was enhanced at lower m and x, as the L-alpha(c)-to-H-II(c) transition temperature increased with the decreases of these two parameters. The suppression of L-alpha(c)-to-H-II(c) transition at lower x was attributed to the lower entropic gain from the counterion release due to the presence of uncomplexed DNA in the bulk solution.
Two-dimensional densely packed DNA nanostructure derived from DNA complexation with a low-generation poly(amidoamine) dendrimer
(2007-01-30)
Su, Chun-Jen
;
Liu, Yi-Chun
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Chen, Hsin-Lung
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Li, Yen-Cheng
;
Lin, Hsien-Kuang
One of the keys for using deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) as a nanomaterial relies on how the individual DNA chain can be aligned and how a multitude of DNA chains can be packed into ordered nanostructures. Here we present a simple method for constructing a 2-D densely packed DNA nanostructure using the electrostatic complex of DNA with a poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer of generation two. Ordered DNA arrays are formed by drop-casting an aqueous solution containing positively overcharged complexes onto mica followed by a prolonged incubation. During the incubation, the complexes tend to adsorb onto the negatively charged mica surface through electrostatic attraction. The rodlike complexes organize to form ordered arrays to increase the surface density of the adsorbed complexes and hence the attractive free energy of adsorption. The densely packed nanostructure obtained here is distinguished from the previously reported spheroid or toroid structure derived from DNA complexations with the higher-generation dendrimers.