Quasi-continuous melting of model polymer monolayers prompts reinterpretation of polymer melting

Ruibin Zhang, William S. Fall, Kyle Wm. Hall, Gillian A. Gehring, Xiangbing Zeng () and Goran Ungar ()
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Ruibin Zhang: Xi’an Jiaotong University
William S. Fall: Xi’an Jiaotong University
Kyle Wm. Hall: Temple University
Gillian A. Gehring: University of Sheffield
Xiangbing Zeng: University of Sheffield
Goran Ungar: Xi’an Jiaotong University

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Condensed matter textbooks teach us that melting cannot be continuous and indeed experience, including with polymers and other long-chain compounds, tells us that it is a strongly first-order transition. However, here we report nearly continuous melting of monolayers of ultralong n-alkane C390H782 on graphite, observed by AFM and reproduced by mean-field theory and MD simulation. On heating, the crystal-melt interface moves steadily and reversibly from chain ends inward. Remarkably, the final melting point is 80 K above that of the bulk, and equilibrium crystallinity decreases continuously from ~100% to

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21799-9

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