Swelling and LCST-type switching behavior of PNIPAM films grafted to PET surfaces
In previous experiments we have investigated the swelling and switching of thermo-responsive poly(N-ispropylacrylamide), PNIPAM, films, which exhibit a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) type phase transition from a swollen to a collapsed chain conformation. Films were prepared by spin-coating on silicon (Si) substrates and D2O enrichment layers were observed near the hydrophilic Si substrate. Surprisingly, this D2O enriched layer even remained in the collapsed films above the LCST. For application in textiles, PET surfaces are of interest rather than Si surfaces. To mimic such configuration, we want to explore Si substrates with thick PET coatings. PNIPAM films on the PET coatings are prepared by grafting-from instead of spin-coating. At the instrument D17 we are able to follow the kinetics of the transition from a swollen to a collapsed PNIPAM film with neutron reflectivity with a time resolution better than 10 seconds! Deuterated water (D2O) is used to achieve a high contrast.
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MUELLER BUSCHBAUM Peter; CUBITT Robert; Lucas Philipp Kreuzer; METWALLI Ezzeldin; Dominik Schwaiger; Tobias Widmann and ZHONG Qi. (2018). Swelling and LCST-type switching behavior of PNIPAM films grafted to PET surfaces. Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) doi:10.5291/ILL-DATA.9-11-1844
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