2004 journal article

Dewetting behavior of a block copolymer/homopolymer thin film on an immiscible homopolymer substrate

LANGMUIR, 20(20), 8659–8667.

By: B. Wei n, J. Genzer n  & R. Spontak n 

co-author countries: United States of America πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ
Source: Web Of Science
Added: August 6, 2018

Numerous previous studies have established that the addition of a microphase-ordered AB diblock copolymer to a thin homopolymer A (hA) film can slow, if not altogether prevent, film rupture and subsequent film dewetting on a hard substrate such as silica. However, only a few reports have examined comparable phenomena when the hA/AB blend resides on a soft B-selective surface, such as homopolymer B (hB). In this work, the dewetting kinetics of thin films composed of polystyrene (PS) and a symmetric poly(styrene-b-methyl methacrylate) (SM) diblock copolymer on a poly(methyl methacrylate) substrate is investigated by hot-stage light microscopy. Without the SM copolymer, the dewetting rate of the PS layer is constant under isothermal conditions and exhibits Arrhenius behavior with an apparent activation energy of ∼180 kJ/mol. Addition of the copolymer promotes a crossover from early- to late-stage dewetting kinetics, as evidenced by measurably different dewetting rates. Transmission electron microscopy reveals the morphological characteristics of dewetted PS/SM films as functions of film thickness and SM concentration.