Study of the phase behavior of poly(n-alkyl methacrylate-b-methyl methacrylate) diblock copolymers and its influence on the wettability of polymer surfaces

In this thesis detailed investigations of the phase behavior of poly(n-alkyl methacrylate-b-methyl methacrylate) diblock copolymers and its influence on the wettability of the polymer surfaces were carried out. For this investigation two polymethacrylic systems differing only in the alkyl rest of one block: poly(pentyl methacrylate-b-methyl methacrylate) and poly(propyl methacrylate-b-methyl methacrylate) have been chosen in order to prove how this substituent affects the phase behavior of whole system. The PnAlkMA-b-PMMA diblock copolymers in a wide range of molar masses, and with varied block length ratios were synthesized by living anionic polymerization. The syntheses were carried out in tetrahydrofuran (THF), at –78 °C, by using sec-buthyllithium as initiator, in the presence of lithium chloride (LiCl). Under these conditions highly syndiotactic products, rr ~ 0.82, with very narrow molar mass distribution, Mw/Mn ~ 1.1, were obtained. The phase behavior of PnAlkMA-b-PMMA diblock copolymers in bulk was investigated by means of DSC and SAXS measurements. The DSC analysis revealed that the PPMA-b-PMMA with weight fractions of PPMA, fPPMA, from 0.28 up to 0.86 showed two separate Tg’s, indicative of a phase separated system. However, by comparing the Tg’s of the diblock copolymers with the Tg’s of the corresponding homopolymers we found that in a few cases, mostly for samples with the high molar masses, they were slightly shifted. This finding pointed out the existence of two mixed phases, and hence partial miscibility between the both blocks was assumed. The SAXS patterns reflected for most diblock copolymers lamellae morphologies even in the case of very asymmetric composition, for instance with volume fraction of PPMA, 0.86 It was assumed that this behavior is caused by the chemical similarity of both blocks as well as by the differences in their molar volumes. The SAXS findings were further confirmed by the AFM measurements on the cutted “bulk” samples. From the solubility concept of Van Krevelen we obtained that the interaction parameter of PPMA-b-PMMA is rather low, 0.065, compared to the other well-known diblock copolymers. The calculated spinodals are characterized by a high asymmetry. The investigation of the phase behavior of PPMA-b-PMMA in thin films showed that the morphology as well as the topography of the thin films were strongly affected by the film thickness, when the films were prepared from a non-selective solvent (THF) onto silicon wafers. Well-recognizable nanostructures with long-range order were mainly found in thin films of diblock copolymers with high molar masses, above 100,000 g/mol, and with a high amount of PPMA. The lateral domain spacing obtained for these films from AFM corresponded well with that found in bulk. The study of the influence of the thermal as well as vapor annealing on the morphology and topography of the thin films provided additional information about the phase behavior of PPMA-b-PMMA diblock copolymers in thin films. Finally, the wettability of the investigated PPMA-b-PMMA surfaces was established by means of contact angle measurements. The measured contact angles were in most cases even on nicely nanostructured surfaces very similar to the contact angle of PPMA, indicating preferential segregation of PPMA to the film surface. Additional XPS measurements also showed an enrichment of the PPMA at the surface, independent of the morphology observed by AFM, and thereby confirmed the ADSA finding. In the next part of this work, investigations of the phase behavior of PPrMA-b-PMMA diblock copolymers were presented. In the contrary to the previous system the PPrMA-b-PMMA showed mostly a single Tg, which was further found to be depend on the weight fraction of PPrMA, fPPrMA. The SAXS data revealed that the PPrMA-b-PMMA diblock copolymers were phase separated in bulk, however the obtained scattering patterns exhibited mostly broad, not-well discernible higher-order peaks. Nevertheless, it was possible to identify the formed morphologies and depending on the volume fraction of PPrMA, hexagonally packed cylinders and lamellae were detected. The PPrMA-b-PMMA is characterized by a significantly lower value of the interaction parameter, 0.022, than the PPMA-b-PMMA system. This difference clearly reflects the weakening of the interactions between the components with decrease of the length of the alkyl side chain. The thin films of PPrMA-b-PMMA diblock copolymers appeared mostly smooth and featureless, independent of the film thickness. From the contact angle and XPS measurements we obtained, that unlike the PPMA-b-PMMA, both components were always present on the top of the surface.

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Technische Universität Dresden

Year

2006

Author dc:creator

• Keska, Renata

Contributors dc:contributor

• Voit, Brigitte
• Wolff, Thomas
• Abetz, Volker

• diblock copolymers
• phase behavior
• wettability
• Diblockcopolymere
• Entmischungsverhalten
• Benetzbarkeit