Neutron study of fullerene-containing polymers

Abstract Star-shaped poly(styrene) (PS), grafted to fullerene C 60 , have been studied in solutions and in the bulk as compared to linear polymers by small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and neutron spin-echo (NSE). In different surroundings the radius of stars is close to the end-to-end distance of their arms, i.e. the arms are not condensed at the fullerene surface, spreading away from the C 60 -core. In bulky stars below the glass transition ( T G ∼94 °C), the interaction of arms with the fullerene slows down the γ-relaxation in arms at T =−20–+70 °C T G , and their relaxation time becomes longer than in free PS chains. Together with slow processes in stars and PS, we observed a fast oscillations (periods ∼1 ns) of correlation function. The dynamic model of stretched oscillations is discussed.