• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.432-438
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• 2013

We report a contact angle goniometer that can be easily assembled and used in high school and general chemistry experiments. It consists of an LED flash, a sample stand, and a camera fixed on an optical bread board, and the sample area is covered to block light from outside with a box with holes on both sides. ImageJ, free image analyzing software and a JAVA plugin (Drop_analysis) were used to determine the contact angle of liquid drop resting on solid surface. The contact angles of various liquids were successfully measured on various surfaces. The solid surface energies have also been determined using the Owen-Wendt method from the contact angles of $H_2O$ and $CH_2I_2$. The results reasonably agree with the previously reported values, showing the surface characteristics and modification as well as the dispersive and polar contributions. These contact angle goniometer and method for determination of the contact angle and surface energy can be applied to observation of various surface properties including wettability, hydrophilicity, and water repelling. Students can learn how the surface properties are related to the intermolecular interactions and gain experience about the equilibrium between the related forces, optics, and mathematical derivations.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.86-92
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• 2019

Polymers with various compositions of azobenzene and hexamethylene groups in the main chain were synthesized by a Schotten-Baumann reaction and their properties were investigated. The chemical structures and physical properties of the synthesized polymers were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, polarized optical microscopy, and x-ray diffraction. The polymers showed an inherent viscosity of 1.28-1.36 dl/g and were relatively insoluble in most organic solvents. The melt transition temperature increased rapidly with increasing number of azobenzene groups in the polymer. When the azobenzene monomer content was more than 50 mol%, no melting transition occurred below the decomposition temperature. Among the polymers with a melt transition temperature, the MP-A3C7 and MP-A5C5 polymers were liquid crystalline materials and exhibited a nematic phase with weak liquid crystallinity over a wide liquid crystal temperature range. This difference in the properties of the synthesized polymers is likely due to the changes in intermolecular forces resulting from the linearity and polarity of the trans-form of azobenzene.