Layered thin films composed of concanavalin A (Con A) and sugar-bearing polymers were prepared by a layer-by-layer deposition of Con A and the polymer on a solid surface. The sugar-induced disintegration was studied. Con A-polymer layered films could be successfully prepared using a maltose-bearing polymer (PV-MA), while melibiose- and glucose-bearing polymers (PV-MEA and PV-G) did not afford a...

We report studies of ordered microporous and nanoporous polymer films formed by the evaporation of polymer solutions following exposure to a humid atmosphere. High speed microphotographic (HSMP) studies of the formation process showed that near the surface of the polymer solution, vapour condensation produced near mono-disperse water droplets which form a close-packed monolayer (or ‘breath figu...

A new liquid-crystal device for flexible display applications was developed using twofold polymerization process. The cell was fabricated from a homogeneous mixture of a liquid crystal and a polymerforming material. Caused by the spatially nonuniform rate of polymerization and wetting properties, largescale anisotropic phase separation of the liquid-crystal blend and the polymer precursor leads...

Earlier attempts at studying with the electron microscope the long chain polar polymers, of which deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is probably the most important example, appear to have been frustrated for want of a suitable substrate. On cast films of the conventional materials, formvar and nitro-cellulose, the greater part of the DNA is gathered together in a mass at the centre of the drop as it d...

The successful development of ferroelectric polymer devices depends on the effective fabrication of polar ferroelectric crystalline nanostructures. We demonstrate, by scanning X-ray microdiffraction using synchrotron light, the heterogeneous character of high aspect ratio one-dimensional nanoarrays of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) copolymers supported by a residual polymer film...

We investigate the creation of large area mesoscale structures by controlling the dewetting pathways of thin polymer films on physically heterogeneous substrates comprising a two-dimensional (2-D) array of square pillars. Depending on the initial configuration and thickness of the film, dewetting produces a variety of both ordered and disordered structures. The substrate pattern strongly influe...

The morphology and the phase diagram of ABC triblock copolymer thin film directed by polymer brushes are investigated by the self-consistent field theory in three dimensions. The polymer brushes coated on the substrate can be used as a good soft template to tailor the morphology of the block copolymer thin films compared with those on the hard substrates. The polymer brush is identical with the...

Spin-coating has been used extensively in the fabrication of electronic devices; however, the effects of the processing parameters have not been fully explored. Here, we systematically characterize the effects of the spin-coating time on the microstructure evolution during semiconducting polymer solidification in an effort to establish the relationship between this parameter and the performance...

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) uses a very sharply pointed mechanical probe to collect real-space morphological information of solid surfaces. AFM was used to image the surface morphology of a biaxially-oriented polypropylene film. The polymer film is characterized by a nanometer-scale fiber-like network structure, which reflects the drawing process used during the fabrication of the film. Polym...

The effect of some amphipilic diblock-copolymers and comb-polymers on a balanced Winsor III microemulsion system is investigated with the quaternary system n-octyl-β-d-glucoside/1-octanol/n-octane/D2O as basis system. The diblock-copolymers are polyethyleneoxide-co-polydodecenoxide (PEO x PEDODO y ) and polyethyleneoxide-co-polybutyleneoxide (PEO x PEBU y ), constituted of a straight chain hydr...