Can Thickness and Interfacial Interactions Univocally Determine the Behavior of Polymers Confined at the Nanoscale?

The behavior of polymers confined in ultrathin films (thickness < 200 nm) can sensitively differ from that observed in macroscopic samples. Based on the simple arguments of finite size and interfacial effects, film thickness, and surface interactions should be sufficient to univocally determine the deviation from bulk behavior. However, recent models suggest that a third key parameter, namely, the interfacial free volume, should also be considered. We describe a novel methodology that quantifies the volume available for structural relaxation at the interface between a thin polymer layer and its supporting substrate. Experiments performed at different annealing conditions verified that the shift in glass transition temperature, measured in thin films upon confinement, is proportional to the degree of adsorption and, thus, to the interfacial free volume.

Adsorption kinetics of ultrathin polymer films in the melt probed by dielectric spectroscopy and second-harmonic generation.

We studied the adsorption kinetics of supported ultrathin films of dye-labeled polystyrene (l-PS) by combining dielectric spectroscopy (DS) and the interface-specific nonlinear optical second harmonic generation (SHG) technique. While DS is sensitive to the fraction of mobile dye moieties (chromophores), the SHG signal probes their anisotropic orientation. Time-resolved measurements were performed above the glass transition temperature on two different sample geometries. In one configuration, the l-PS layer is placed in contact with the aluminum surface, while in the other one, the deposition is done on a strongly adsorbed layer of neat PS. From the time dependence of the dielectric strength and SHG signal of the l-PS layer in contact with the metal, we detected two different kinetics regimes. We interpret these regimes in terms of the interplay between adsorption and orientation of the adsorbing labeling moieties. At early times, dye moieties get adsorbed adopting an orientation parallel to the surface. When adsorption proceeds to completeness, the kinetics slows down and the dye moieties progressively orient normal to the surface. Conversely, when the layer of l-PS layer is deposited on the strongly adsorbed layer of neat PS, both the dielectric strength and the SHG signal do not show any variation with time. This means that no adsorption takes place.

Is the reduction in tracer diffusivity under nanoscopic confinement related to a frustrated segmental mobility?

We developed an experimental method for the determination of the tracer diffusivity D(tr) in ultrathin polymer films, and the changes in the segmental mobility of tracer molecules while they diffuse through matrices of different thickness and get adsorbed onto a target substrate. D(tr) starts decreasing already at 120-150 nm and drops to 1% of its bulk value in films as thin as 7.5 nm. We discuss the results highlighting a strong decoupling between the reduction in mass transport at the nanoscale and the increase in the glass transition temperature determined via capacitive dilatometry together with a breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein relation between orientational and translational degrees of freedom.