Surface morphology and phase behavior of flexible polymer in fluid liquid crystal monolayers

Titelangaben

Ibn-Elhaj, M. ; Ouali, Lahoussine ; Papastavrou, Georg ; Möhwald, Helmuth:
Surface morphology and phase behavior of flexible polymer in fluid liquid crystal monolayers.
In: Langmuir. Bd. 15 (1999) Heft 4 . - S. 1528-1533.
ISSN 1520-5827
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/la981175d

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Abstract

Using the Langmuir-Blodgett technique, X-ray reflectivity, and atomic force microscopy, we investigate the phase behavior, structure, and morphology of a flexible polymer with surface-active repeat units embedded in a two-dimensional Liquid crystal fluid. Depending on the lateral pressure and the polymer concentration, one observes complete miscibility, partial miscibility, or complete phase separation of polymer and liquid crystal. At low polymer concentration (or low lateral pressure), isolated polymer chains are laterally anchored onto the water surface. The polymer is uniformly incorporated into the layers, without destroying the liquid crystalline ordering, and increases their stability. At higher concentrations, a transition is generated by simply increasing the surface pressure, where the polymer configuration switches from planar to form "pancakes" in contact, yielding patterns of polymer in the liquid crystalline matrix. By transferring the films to a solid support and removing the Liquid crystal, it is then possible to create nanoscopic polymer domains consisting of one to several isolated polymer chains on the solid substrate.