Type
Text
Type
Thesis
Advisor
Sokolov, Jonathon | Koga, Tadanori | Venkatesh, T. A..
Date
2015-08-01
Keywords
Materials Science
Department
Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/76354
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
Despite intensive studies over the last 20 years, the nature of wetting/dewetting of ultrathin polymer films (i.e. | thickness less than 100 nm) on impenetrable solid surfaces still remains unsolved. We report that stabilization of liquid polymer films on solids can be controlled by nanoscale architectures of polymer chains adsorbed on the solid surfaces. A series of monodisperse PS ultrathin films (20 nm in thickness) with different molecular weights (Mw) were prepared on silicon (Si) substrates with a natural amorphous Si dioxide layer. The PS thin films were annealed at high temperatures, and the film stability was studied by combining optical and atomic force microscopes. At the same time, the annealed PS films were further leached with a good solvent and the residue films (several nanometers thick) were characterized by ellipsometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. We found that the film stability is attributed to the wetting-dewetting transition at the interface between the free polymer chains and adsorbed polymer chains. The present findings provide a simple and effective alternative in place ofconventional end-grafting approach, by modifying the substrate surfaces with the chemically identical polymer chains bound to solids via physisorption. | 61 pages
Recommended Citation
Wang, Jiaxun, "Molecular Origin of Polymer Film Stability on Solid Substrates" (2015). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 2278.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/2278