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What is a 'corona phase'? I have come across this term in several papers, including this one

but all I have found concerning its definition is:

[...] synthetic heteropolymers, once constrained onto a single-walled carbon nanotube by chemical adsorption, also form a new corona phase that exhibits highly selective recognition for specific molecules...

What is the formal definition of 'corona phase'?

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One of the authors has recently established a research group at my university, so I spoke to a member of their lab:

The corona phase is not exactly a phase in the thermodynamic sense, but rather the portion of the polymer in contact with the nanotube. In the below image (taken from the Nature Nanotechnology paper in question), the blue portion and the parts of the red portion in contact with the tube would be the corona phase.

enter image description here

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A phase is region where the the chemical and physical properties of a material are uniform in a certain sense.

The corona phase is the phase formed when amphiphilic polymers are being bound to the surface of carbon nanotubes.

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  • $\begingroup$ I understand what a phase is. But my question is whether the polymer-CNT interface is the definition of a corona phase or simply an example of a coronoa phase. If it is the latter, can you provide another example of a corona phase without a CNT-polymer interface? $\endgroup$ – NewDogOldTricks Feb 27 '16 at 18:48

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