SGER: Breaking the Size-Threshold for Thermal Analysis of Polmer Thin-films: NanoDSC

技术概要：聚合物在被限制在非常小的纳米尺度时具有不寻常的特性。 以薄膜、小孔或岛的形式的材料的空间限制可以对其热力学性质产生显著影响。 最近，一些实验已经表明，空间限制可以有很大的影响，对聚合物的玻璃化转变温度Tg。 空间限制对于由自组装单层（SAM）组成的薄膜也是重要的。 此外，以非常快的加热/冷却速率加工聚合物也会对材料性能产生显著影响。 商业差示扫描量热仪（DSC）是高分子材料分析研究中常用的工具。 不幸的是，传统的DSC仪器不能用于这些类型的实验，因为它们缺乏灵敏度并且具有太慢的扫描速率。 然而，最近开发了一种新的量热技术纳米量热法，其具有以极快的冷却/加热速率测量极小样品的能力。 该建议的重点是使用NanoDSC研究空间限制的薄膜聚合物的玻璃化转变温度和自组装膜的热力学性质。 这项研究将开发的方法来测量热容在冷却循环的扫描和桥梁之间的差距差距传统DSC的慢扫描速率和快速速率的Nanocalorimetry.NON-TECHNICAL摘要：这项研究是重要的，因为许多材料技术的进步，在下一代有望通过制造和操纵材料在纳米尺度的尺寸。 这项研究将提供在如此小的微观水平上检查材料所需的基本工具，从而允许分析现在使用传统技术无法获得的材料。 这项研究的影响是增加国家基础科学的基础设施，以及在一个关键的研究领域的技术。 纳米量热法在纳米技术的广泛表征需求中将特别有用，并且在聚合物、微电子和生物医学工业中将特别重要。 这项研究的广泛影响将包括纳米技术领域研究生的教育和培训。 纳米热量测量已经产生了国际合作，这项研究将增加这方面的努力。

TECHNICAL SUMMARY:Polymers have unusual properties when confined to very small nanometer-scale dimensions. Spatial confinement of materials in the form of thin films, small pores, or islands can have a dramatic effect on their thermodynamic properties. Recently, some experiments have shown that spatial confinement can have a large effect on the glass transition temperature Tg for polymers. Spatial confinement is also important for thin films consisting of self-assembled monolayers (SAM). In addition, processing polymers at very fast heating/cooling rates also has a dramatic effect of the material properties. Commercial differential scanning calorimeters (DSC) are the tools often used for analysis investigations of polymer material. Unfortunately, conventional DSC instruments can not be used for these type of experiments because they lack sensitivity and have scan rates which are too slow. However recently a new calorimetry technique Nanocalorimetry has been developed which has the capability of measuring extremely small samples at extremely fast cooling/heating rates. This proposal focuses on using the NanoDSC to investigate spatial confinement of the glass transition temperature of thin film polymers and the thermodynamic properties of SAMs. This research will develop methods to measure heat capacity during the cooling cycle of a scan and bridge the gap between the slow scan rates of conventional DSC and the fast rates of Nanocalorimetry.NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY:This research is important because much of the advances in materials technology in the next generation are expected to be made by fabricating and manipulating materials at the nanometer scale dimensions. The research will provide the fundamental tools needed to examine materials at such small microscopic levels and thus allowing analysis of material that is now inaccessible when using conventional techniques. The impact of this research is to add to the infrastructure of the country for basic science as well as for technology in a critical research area. Nanocalorimetry will be especially useful in a wide range of characterization needs in nanotechnology and will be particularly important in the polymer, microelectronic, and biomedical industries. The broad impact of this research will include the education and training of graduate students in the field of nano-technology. Nanocalorimetry has already generated international collaborations and this research will increase this effort.