The isothermal structural relaxation of glassy, spin-cast polymer thin films has been investigated. Specifically, the thickness h of freshly cast poly(methyl methacrylate) thin films was measured over time using spectroscopic ellipsometry. The spin-cast films exhibit a gradual decrease in thickness, which is attributed to structural relaxation of the glass combined with simultaneous solvent los...

An important signaling process in the nervous system is the release of chemical messengers called neurotransmitters from neurons. In this thesis alternative thin film electrode materials for applications targeting electrochemical detection of neurotransmitters in chip devices were evaluated. Microelectrodes made of the conductive polymer Pedot:tosylate were characterized with respect to their p...

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...

Over the past decade, many applications were intended for filtration by membrane technology especially the thin film composite (TFC) membranes. In advanced developments of thin film membranes, an attempt was made to spread a new generation of membranes called thin film nano composite (TFN) membranes. However, in the last generation of TFNs, an ultrathin selective film of nanoparticles is coated...

It has recently been shown that thin polymer films in the nanometer thickness range exhibit anomalous swelling maxima in supercritical CO2 (Sc-Co2) in the vicinity of the critical point of CO2. The adsorption isotherm of CO2 on carbon black, silica surfaces, porous zeolites, and other surfaces, is known to exhibit anomalous maxima under similar CO2 conditions. It is believed that because CO2 po...

The widespread use of thin films in a range of applications and industries, from coatings, inks and lithography to nano-imprinting, optoelectronics, and memory devices , has made the understanding of thin films, particularly the changes induced by structural relaxation and solvent evaporation, very important. There is a need to know if a film will change in dimensions after its deposition and h...

This paper describes the fabrication of transparent electrodes based on grids of copper microwires using a non-photolithographic process. The process--"abrasion lithography"--takes two forms. In the first implementation (Method I), a water-soluble commodity polymer film is abraded with a sharp tool, coated with a conductive film, and developed by immersion in water. Water dissolves the polymer ...

A new diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)-containing donor-acceptor polymer, poly(2,5-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-3,6-di(furan-2-yl)-2,5-dihydro-pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole-1,4-dione-co-thieno[3,2-b]thiophene) (PDBF-co-TT), is synthesized and studied as a semiconductor in organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) and organic photovoltaics (OPVs). High hole mobility of up to 0.53 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) in bottom-gate, top-cont...

The goal of this work is to demonstrate that high performance solar reflective material can be produced in a roll format using vacuum deposition techniques. The material consists of a multilayer thin film stack on a substrate. The essential feature of the film stack is an alumina film several microns thick deposited over a silver film. The alumina film is deposited under high vacuum using a phy...

Thin polymer films are important in many areas of biomaterials research, biomedical devices, and biological sensors. The accurate in situ measurement of multiple physicochemical properties of thin polymer films is critical in understanding biocompatibility, polymer function, and performance. In this work we demonstrate a facile spectroscopic methodology for accurately measuring the micro-polari...