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Environmental vapor induced self‐assembly of an amphiphilic block copolymer poly(styrene‐b‐acrylamide) onto the solid substrate
Author(s) -
Yan Lifeng,
Ji Jing,
Xu Songsong,
Bangal Prakriti R.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
polymers for advanced technologies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.61
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1099-1581
pISSN - 1042-7147
DOI - 10.1002/pat.1736
Subject(s) - copolymer , contact angle , materials science , amphiphile , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , chemical engineering , scanning electron microscope , styrene , polymer chemistry , transmission electron microscopy , acrylamide , solvent , polymer , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , composite material , chemistry , engineering
The chemical and micro‐structural changes at the top surface of the film of amphiphilic block copolymer poly(styrene‐b‐acrylamide) (PS 950 ‐b‐PAM 50 ) induced by different environmental conditions and temperature have been studied. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), X‐ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), and contact angle (CA) goniometry studies revealed that the roughness and the surface property in terms of hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity of the film strongly depend on the environmental conditions. Humidity, presence of solvent vapor and temperature at the time of film preparation have immense role in controlling surface properties. Hence, it is suggested that the surface properties of the amphiphilic block copolymer film can be tuned according to the requirement for its potential applications. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.