62. Fractal crystal growth of poly(ethylene oxide) crystals from its amorphous monolayers
作者：Zhenpeng Ma, Guoliang Zhang, Xuemei Zhai, Liuxin Jin, Xiongfeng Tang, Miao Yang, Wei Wang*
關鍵字：Polymer crystallization; Monolayers; Crystal pattern formation
論文來源：期刊
具體來源：Polymer
發表時間：2008年
The fractal crystal growth process of the PEO monolayer with a molecular weight 
and a distribution 
has been followed on the substrate of the silicon wafer using AFM equipped with a hot stage. A depletion zone between the ramified crystals and the viscous amorphous layer was found in the AFM height images. The formation of the depletion zone shows that the molecules have to “break up” with the amorphous layer and then diffuse through the depletion zone to join the crystals. The diffusion process further means the diffusion-controlled mechanism resulting in the fractal crystal pattern with a fractal dimension Df ≈ 1.63. The linear feature of the crystal pattern radius growth with time means that the surface kinetic process plays a key role in the crystal growth.