Grenzschicht von wässrigen Blockcopolymerlösungen an polymerbeschichteten Substraten: Adsorbatstruktur und Benetzungsverhalten

该项目旨在阐明表面活性剂分子的有序性和自组装性如何影响这些两亲物的稀溶液和浓溶液对固体基质的润湿行为。特别是，我们有兴趣在硅基板上覆盖的聚苯乙烯或聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯薄膜的润湿特性。主要用中子反射计和原子力显微镜研究烷基聚氧乙烯醚表面活性剂水溶液体系对这些聚合物覆盖的基底的边界层。宏观润湿行为的特征在于通过测量作为低于和高于临界胶束浓度的表面活性剂浓度的函数的固着液滴的平衡接触角。预计结构敏感技术与热力学方法的结合将使人们更清楚地了解这些具有重要实际意义的聚合物/表面活性剂体系中的“软”界面所引起的一些有趣的问题。

This project aims to elucidate the way in which the ordering and self-assembly of surfactant molecules affects the wetting behaviour of solid substrates by dilute and concentrated aqueous solutions of these amphiphiles. In particular, we are interested in the wetting characteristics of silicon substrates covered by thin films of polystyrene or polymethylmethacrylate. The boundary layer of aqueous systems of alkyl-polyethoxylate surfactants against these polymer covered substrates will be studied mainly by neutron reflectometry and atomic force miccroscopy. The macroscopic wetting behaviour will be characterized by measuring equilibrium contact angles of sessile drops as a function of the surfactant concentration below and above the critical micelle concentration. It is anticipated that the combination of structure sensitive techniques with thermodynamic methods will shed more light on some of the intriguing questions posed by these "soft" interfaces in polymer/surfactant systems of great practical importance.