Berlin 2012 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 17: Poster: Crystallisation, Nucleation and Self assembly

CPP 17.21: Poster

Tuesday, March 27, 2012, 18:15–20:15, Poster A

The Effect of Surface Affinity on the Morphology of Double Crystalline Co-Oligomer Thin Films — •Robert Schulze, Thomas F. Keller, and Klaus D. Jandt — Institute of Materials Science and Technology, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany

The lamellar morphology of double crystalline co-oligomers in the bulk was recently attributed to a stacking of extended or folded chains.

Thus, the aim of the present study was to show that the lamellar morphology of extended chains of a double crystalline co-oligomer can be used to create amphiphilic nanopatterns on surfaces.

Therefore we analyzed polyethylene-block-poly(ethylene oxide) co-oligomer thin films onto chemically different substrates by atomic force microscopy.

After drop-casting from dilute solution we observed quantized values of the film thickness that correspond to multiple integers of the theoretically extended chain length. On neutral surfaces, annealing leads to perpendicular lamellae, where the lamellar thickness resembles the theoretical extended chain length, whereas on hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces residual thin films possess no defined lamellar surface structure.

These observations can be explained by assuming that the formation of thin film morphology is dominated by the crystallization of extended chains under the influence of the surface affinity. On neutral surfaces, annealing facilitates a chain rotation from perpendicular to parallel, therefore enabling the formation of a lateral lamellar surface morphology with potential applications, as e.g. in the biomedical field.