The thickness dependence of the order-to-disorder transition (ODT), measured by in situ grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS), has been investigated in thin films of a symmetric polystyrene-b-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA) on a random copolymer (P(S-r-MMA)) grafted to the substrate where the interfacial interactions are balanced. With decreasing film thickness less than...

We compare the capillary levelling of a random surface perturbation on a thin polystyrene film with a theoretical study on the two-dimensional capillary-driven thin film equation. Using atomic force microscopy, we follow the time evolution of samples prepared with different initial perturbations of the free surface. In particular, we show that the surface profiles present long term self-similar...

Ag semishells (AgSS) ordered arrays for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy have been prepared by depositing Ag film onto polystyrene colloidal particle (PSCP) monolayer templates array. The diversified activity for SERS activity with the ordered AgSS arrays mainly depends on the PSCP diameter and Ag film thickness. The high SERS sensitivity and reproducibility are proved by t...

Nanostructured metal films of platinum, gold and silver up to 675 nm thick we prepared by electrochemical deposition through templates of 700 nm diameter polystyrene spheres assembled as hexagonal close packed monolayer on an evaporated gold surface followed by removal of the template by dissolution in tetrahydrofuran. The reflection spectra of the films at normal incidence were recorded as a f...

The structural evolution of low-molecular-weight poly(ethylene oxide)-block-polystyrene (PEO-b-PS) diblock copolymer thin film with various initial film thicknesses on silicon substrate under thermal annealing was investigated by atomic force microscopy, optical microscopy, and contact angle measurement. At film thickness below half of the interlamellar spacing of the diblock copolymer (6.2 nm)...

We report the first measurements of the glass transition temperature Tg for thin freely standing polystyrene (PS) films. We have used Brillouin light scattering to measure Tg for freely standing films of different thicknesses. We find that Tg decreases linearly with film thickness h for h # 700 Å, with a reduction of 70 K for a film with h ­ 290 Å. These measurements characterize unambiguously ...

The response of a thin-film polystyrene melt to a raster-scanned scanning force microscope tip was investigated. At high temperatures the scanning process induced intricate pattern formation whose quantitative characteristics were compared at different temperatures and scan rates. The dependence of the patterns on temperature and scan rate was consistent with time-temperature superposition as d...

Controlled vertical drying deposition method was used to make high-quality single crystal close-packed colloidal films formed of different radii polystyrene latex spheres on glass substrates coming from a low concentration water suspension (0.1% volume fraction). Regardless of the spheres radii the film thickness was about 6.3 microns. However, cracks destroyed the crystalline film structure du...

Herein, homogenously partial sulfonation of polystyrene (PSP) was performed. An effective electrochemiluminescence (ECL) sensor based on PSP with carbon nanotube (CNTs) composite film was developed. Cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impendence spectroscopy were applied to characterize this composite film. The PSP was used as an immobilization matrix to entrap the ECL reagent Ru(bpy)3(2+) d...

Spherical domains that readily form at the polystyrene (PS)-water interface were studied and characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The study showed that these domains have similar characteristics to micro- and nanobubbles, such as a spherical shape, smaller contact angle, low line tension, and they exhibit phase contrast and the coalescence phenomenon. However, their insensitivity ...