Spinodal decomposition in thin films of a polymer blend

Bruder, Friedrich‐Karl; Brenn, R.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.69.624

Cited by 211 publications

(169 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…1a) are expected for flat surfaces with antisymmetric and symmetric surface fields, respectively [3]. The columns extend across the film up to both symmetric surfaces partially wetted by blend phases [9], or they are terminated at both surfaces by wetting layers of the same phase [13]. This picture is more complex for very thin films composed of blends with high interfacial tension, where the laterally separated phase domains are accompanied by coupled undulations of the free surface [52] as observed very recently [50,53].…”

Section: A Temperature Quenchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…by exchanging polymers [51,56]) or ∆γ (e.g. by changing the chemical nature of the substrate [9,11] Approaches using mixed SAMs [67] or end-grafted random copolymer brushes [68], both with variable composition, were used to tune the effective interactions between polymers and the substrate. A controlled variation of both effective surface fields was achieved by adding surface-active copolymers to the mixtures [10,12,69].…”

Section: A Surface/polymers Interactions Tuned By Surface-active DImentioning

confidence: 99%

“…External surfaces, relevant for thin film geometry, can however direct the separation process to create ordered phase domain structures [1,3,4]. For homogeneous surfaces this selforganisation can result in a multilayer or column-like phase domain morphology [3,4,9] with the interfaces between blend phases oriented (in general) parallel or perpendicular to the substrate, respectively (Fig. 1a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…the alignment of phase domains with respect to the patterned substrate (accompanied by free surface undulations), is the second main issue [19] discussed here. Selfassembly of polymer blends, cast as thin films on both homogeneous as well as patterned substrates, is a consequence of surface-directed phase separation [1,3,4,[9][10][11][12][13][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32], discovered [23,27] only 10 years ago and described shortly below. Molecular mobility in the phase-separating films is promoted by the temperature elevated above glass transition (temperature quench applied for partly miscible or immiscible mixtures) or a common solvent added to the polymer blend (solvent quench encountered commonly for immiscible blends).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Surface-directed phase separation in nanometer polymer films: self-stratification and pattern replication

et al. 2002

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Phase separation occurs in thin films of polymer blends when molecular mobility is promoted by a temperature above the glass transition but inside the twophase region (temperature quench), or a common solvent added to the polymers (solvent quench). This phenomenon can be altered by a homogeneous surface or pre-patterned substrate, resulting, e.g., in self-stratification or pattern replication, respectively. Such self-organisation processes ordering polymer phases were observed for model polymer blends (deuterated/hydrogenated polystyrene, dPS/hPS, and deuterated/partially brominated PS, dPS/PBrS, both with hPSpolyisoprene diblocks added; dPS/poly(vinylpyridine) and PBrS/PVP) with highresolution ion beam techniques (Nuclear Reaction Analysis, profiling and mapping mode of dynamic Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry) and Atomic Force Microscopy. The self-stratification process is strongly affected by both the range as well as the strength of the surface/polymer interactions. This is illustrated for the temperature-quenched blends with surface-active copolymer additives tuning the interactions exerted by both external surfaces. The pattern transfer from the substrate to the films is demonstrated for the solvent-quenched blends. Patterndirected composition variations (SIMS maps) coincide with free surface undulations (AFM images). The most effective pattern replication is achieved for the length scale of phase domain morphology comparable with the pattern periodicity and for carefully adjusted polymer/substrate interactions.

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Section: A Temperature Quenchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Surface/polymers Interactions Tuned By Surface-active DImentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Surface-directed phase separation in nanometer polymer films: self-stratification and pattern replication

et al. 2002

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“…A problem of active current research in nano-technology, for example, is the tailoring of thin polymer films on surfaces [1,2]. Spontaneous phase separation processes of incompatible polymer blends may be used to translate a chemical pattern on the surface (as e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soft ellipsoid model for Gaussian polymer chains

Eurich

Maass

2001

The Journal of Chemical Physics

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A soft ellipsoid model for Gaussian polymer chains is studied, following an idea proposed by Murat and Kremer [J. Chem. Phys. 108, 4340 (1998)]. In this model chain molecules are mapped onto ellipsoids with certain shapes, and to each shape a monomer density is assigned. In the first part of the work, the probabilities for the shapes and the associated monomer densities are studied in detail for Gaussian chains. Both quantities are expressed in terms of simple approximate formulae. The free energy of a system composed of many ellipsoids is given by an intramolecular part accounting for the internal degrees of freedom and an intermolecular part following from pair interactions between the monomer densities. Structural and kinetic properties of both homogeneous systems and binary mixtures are subsequently studied by Monte-Carlo simulations. It is shown that the model provides a powerful phenomenological approach for investigating polymeric systems on semi-macroscopic time and length scales.

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Phase separation in thin films of polymer blends: The influence of symmetric boundary conditions

Wendlandt

Heuberger

Klein

2000

J. Polym. Sci. B Polym. Phys.

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Using nuclear reaction analysis composition‐depth profiling, we investigate the influence of symmetric/asymmetric confining walls on the equilibrium configuration of thin films of phase‐separated polymer blends. Depth profiles of samples annealed under symmetric boundary conditions show a laterally averaged concentration, while samples confined by nonsymmetric walls show (as in earlier studies) clear separation into two thin layers of coexisting phases. This suggests that for phase separation under symmetric boundary conditions the interface between the two phases is orthogonal to the sample plane, in line with recent theoretical discussion. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 38: 831–837, 2000

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Spinodal decomposition in thin films of a polymer blend

Cited by 211 publications

References 25 publications

Surface-directed phase separation in nanometer polymer films: self-stratification and pattern replication

Surface-directed phase separation in nanometer polymer films: self-stratification and pattern replication

Soft ellipsoid model for Gaussian polymer chains

Phase separation in thin films of polymer blends: The influence of symmetric boundary conditions

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