ZnS deposition on oxadiazole-terpyridine copolymer

The combination of inorganic salts and macromolecules leads to supramolecular structures with new interesting physical and chemical properties. The deposition of ZnS (Wurtzite) on oxadiazole–terpyridine copolymer P‐90/10 synthesized by free radical copolymerization were investigated. The apparent order of the crystallization process was found to be 2 that indicated a surface diffusion‐controlled mechanism. Critical nucleus formation proceeds via complexation of the ZnS molecules to the N atoms as concluded from computational chemistry calculations. The number of ions forming the critical nucleus was found experimentally to be (n*exp = 1.71 ± 0.24) in accordance with the computational chemistry calculations by the PM3 method of the MOPAC program package. The surface energy of the growing ZnS phase was found to be 121 mJ/m2 typical for sparingly soluble salts. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 101: 1913–1918, 2006