The stability of thin polymer films as controlled by changes in uniformly sputtered gold

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dc.contributor.authorAmarandei, George
dc.contributor.authorO'Dwyer, Colm
dc.contributor.authorArshak, Arousian
dc.contributor.authorCorcoran, David
dc.contributor.funderScience Foundation Irelanden
dc.contributor.funderSeventh Framework Programmeen
dc.date.accessioned2018-08-31T09:12:40Z
dc.date.available2018-08-31T09:12:40Z
dc.date.issued2013-01-22
dc.date.updated2018-05-16T00:33:09Z
dc.description.abstractThe stability of polystyrene thin films of low molecular weight on a solid substrate is shown to be controlled by the presence of uniformly distributed gold sputtered at the air–polymer interface. Continuous gold coverage causes the formation of wrinkles. High coverage and Au nanoparticle (NP) density leads to the development of a spinodal instability while low coverage and NP density retards the nucleation dewetting mechanism that beads up the thin polymer film into drops when no coverage is present. Heating at temperature larger than the polymer glass transition temperature for extended periods allows the gold NPs to coalesce and rearrange. The area of polymer surface covered by NPs decreases as a result and this drives the films from unstable to metastable states. When the gold NPs are interconnected by polymer chains a theoretically predicted spinodal instability that patterns the film surface is experimentally observed. Suppression of the instability and a return to a flat film occurs when the polymer interconnections between particles are broken. While the polymer films maintain their physical continuity changes in their chemical surface composition and thickness are observed. The observed film metastability is nevertheless in agreement with theoretical prediction that includes these surface changes.en
dc.description.sponsorshipEuropean Commission (project MRTN-CT-2004005728 (PATTERNS))en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationAmarandei, G., O'Dwyer, C., Arshak, A. and Corcoran, D. (2013) 'The stability of thin polymer films as controlled by changes in uniformly sputtered gold', Soft Matter, 9(9), pp. 2695-2702. doi: 10.1039/c3sm27130gen
dc.identifier.doi10.1039/c3sm27130g
dc.identifier.endpage2702en
dc.identifier.issn1744-683X
dc.identifier.journaltitleSoft Matteren
dc.identifier.startpage2695en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/6693
dc.identifier.volume9en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherRoyal Society of Chemistry (RSC)en
dc.relation.projectinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/SFI/SFI Stokes Professorship & Lectureship Programme/07/SK/B1232a/IE/Colm ODwyer/en
dc.relation.projectinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7::SP3::PEOPLE/239426/EU/Control and Application of Field Induced Polymer Patterns/POLYPATTen
dc.rights© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2013en
dc.subjectPolymer filmsen
dc.subjectGolden
dc.subjectPhase interfacesen
dc.subjectPolymersen
dc.subjectPolystyrenesen
dc.subjectStabilityen
dc.subjectAir-polymer interfaceen
dc.subjectChemical surface compositionen
dc.subjectLow molecular weighten
dc.subjectPolymer glass transitionen
dc.subjectPolymer interconnectionsen
dc.subjectPolystyrene thin filmsen
dc.subjectSpinodal instabilityen
dc.subjectThin polymer filmsen
dc.titleThe stability of thin polymer films as controlled by changes in uniformly sputtered golden
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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