Chain Conformation near the Buried Interface in Nanoparticle-Stabilized Polymer Thin Films

Published

October 10, 2017

Author(s)

Deborah A. Barkley, Naisheng Jiang, Mani Sen, Maya K. Endoh, Jonathan G. Rudick, Tadanori Koga, Yugang Zhang, Oleg Gang, Guangcui Yuan, Sushil K. Satija, Daisuke Kawaguchi, Keiji Tanaka, Alamgir Karim

Abstract

It is known that when nanoparticles are added to polymer thin films, they often migrate to the film-substrate interface and form an "immobile interfacial layer", which has been believed as the origin of suppression of dewetting. We here report an alternative mechanism of dewetting suppression from the structural aspect of a polymer. Dodecane thiol-functionalized gold (Au) nanoparticles embedded in PS thin films prepared on Si substrates were used as a model. It was found that thermal annealing promotes irreversible polymer adsorption onto the substrate surface along with the surface migration of the nanoparticles. We also revealed that the surface migration causes additional nanoconfined space for the adsorbed polymer chains. As a result, the self-organization process of the strongly adsorbed polymer chains. As a result, the self-organization process of the strongly adsorbed polymer chains on the solid surface was so hindered that the chain conformations were randomized and expanded in the film normal direction. The resultant chain conformation allows the interpenetration between free chains and the adsorbed chains, promoting adhesion and hence stabilizing the thin film.

Citation

Macromolecules

Volume

50

Issue

19

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

chain conformation, nanoparticle

Citation

Barkley, D. , Jiang, N. , Sen, M. , Endoh, M. , Rudick, J. , Koga, T. , Zhang, Y. , Gang, O. , Yuan, G. , Satija, S. , Kawaguchi, D. , Tanaka, K. and Karim, A. (2017), Chain Conformation near the Buried Interface in Nanoparticle-Stabilized Polymer Thin Films, Macromolecules, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=922312 (Accessed October 8, 2025)