Pressure Effects on the Structure and Dynamics of Soft Condensed Matter

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Various types of phase separation and phase transition phenomena have been observed for soft condensed matter at atmospheric pressure. Though the phase behavior of soft condensed matter depends strongly on hydrostatic pressure, investigations on pressure effects have been limited. Particularly, pressure effects are important in systems where hydrophobic interactions are involved. We studied pressure effects on the phase behavior, and structure, and dynamics of polymer solutions and gels, and microemulsion systems. The phase behavior, microscopic structure, and dynamics of environment sensitive polymer gels, poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) in water, were extensively investigated as a function of both temperature and pressure. The pressure-temperature phase diagram was convex-upward function. Critical divergence and critical slowing down were observed by approaching the phase boundary. These phenomena were explained in conjunction with the hydrophobic interaction.