Isolated Crystalline Polymers

• In addition to metallic nanostructures, we have also investigated the melting of isolated polymer single crystals. We are using PE and depending on growth conditions, one can either grow hexagonal or diamond shaped crystals.
• These crystals are large, up to about 20 µm in size, but quite thin, about 12 nm.
• This graph shows the melting of 5, 1.5, and 0.3ng of PE. This last curve is about 120 crystals, which is still many. We have done as few as 3.

• Here one can see the H_F for a number of different crystals, down to 3 crystals, or about 5 pg of material.
• We hope to soon measure a single crystal. The problem is not the sensitivity limit of the calorimeter but in making sure that a single crystal is present.