Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 January 2011
The investigation of dilute solution epitaxy of polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) has been carried out on a series of inorganic substrates, which cover a wide range of interatomic spacings, surface energies, and geometries. A variety of morphological arrangements of PPS on various substrates were observed. Both 〈100〉 and 〈110〉 epitaxial orientations were observed on monovalent alkali halides. While the 〈100〉 epitaxy is generally thought to grow upon nucleation on surface steps along the 〈100〉 direction, 〈110〉 epitaxy may also be nucleated on these surface steps. Changes in ionic lattice dimensions and ionic nature of the substrate have a substantial effect on the molecular packing of PPS and the resulting crystal orientations. Four new crystalline phases of PPS have resulted from the fold surface epitaxies on NaCl, KCl, KBr, and mica with favorable one- or two-dimensional lattice matching. This is a direct indication of the important role of lattice matching in inducing and defining the epitaxies and polymorphism of PPS.