The dynamics and morphology of a liquid polystyrene (PS) film on the scale of a hundred nanometer dewetting from a liquid polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) film is investigated experimentally and theoretically. The polymers considered here are both below their entanglement lengths and have negligible elastic properties. A theoretical model based on viscous Newtonian flow for both polymers is set up...

Poly(styrene)-b-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PS-b-PNIPAM) amphiphilic diblock copolymers were synthesized via reverse iodine transfer polymerization (RITP) firstly. And then the honeycomb structured porous films were fabricated by drop the amphiphilic diblock copolymer solutions on glass substrates. The porous films were characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) an...

Most polymers solidify into a glassy amorphous state, accompanied by a rapid increase in the viscosity when cooled below the glass transition temperature (T(g)). There is an ongoing debate on whether the T(g) changes with decreasing polymer film thickness and on the origin of the changes. We measured the viscosity of unentangled, short-chain polystyrene films on silicon at different temperature...

The film thickness dependence of crystal growth is investigated for isotactic polystyrene (it-PS) in thin films, the thickness of which is from 20nm down to 4nm. The single crystals of it-PS grown at 180 in the ultrathin films show the morphology typical in the diffusion-controlled growth: dense branching morphology (DBM), fractal seeweed (FS). The characteristic length of the morphology, i.e. ...

A gecko-foot inspired nanocupule surface prepared by an AAO template covering method was composed of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) and polystyrene blend. Both superhydrophobicity and high adhesion force were exhibited on the PNIPAm/PS film at room temperature. Moreover, by controlling the temperature, the wettability of the film could be switched between 138.1 ± 5.5° and 150.6 ± 1.5°, and the adh...

Substrate constraints and interfacial boundary layers in thin polystyrene films are explored with high strain rate indentations characteristic of thermomechanical terabit data storage operations. Under these impact-like conditions, the coupling of strain-rate and inertial effects leads to large plastic deformations relative to quasi-static indentations. Strain shielding is present when the plas...

Ordered nanocone arrays of the electroactive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) were fabricated by the simultaneous oxygen plasma etching of an electrodeposited PEDOT thin film coated with a hexagonally closed packed polystyrene bead monolayer. PEDOT nanocone arrays with an intercone spacing of 200 nm and an average nanocone height of 350 nm exhibited a low broadband reflectivity ...

Under UV illumination, polymer films can undergo chain scission and contract. Using this effect, tightly focused laser light is shown to develop runaway near-field concentration that drills sub-100 nm pits through a thin film. This subwavelength photolithography can be controlled in real time by monitoring laser scatter from the evolving holes, allowing systematic control of the void diameter. ...

The rapid development of nanoscience and nanotechnology involves polymer films with thickness down to nanometer scale. However, the properties of ultrathin polymer films are extremely different from that of bulk matrix or thin films. It is challenging to distinguish the changes of physical properties in ultrathin films using conventional techniques especially when it locates near the glass tran...

Alkaline-heat-treated titanium self-forms an apatite surface layer in vivo. The aim of the present study was to materialistically characterize the surface of alkaline-heat-treated titanium immersed in simulated body fluid (AHS-TI) and to examine the differentiation behavior of osteoblasts on AHS-TI. SEM, thin-film XRD, FTIR, and XPS analyses revealed that AHS-TI contained a 1.0- micro m-thick, ...