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Enhancing the stability of polystyrene ultrathin films by using star-shape polymers as dewetting inhibitors

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Abstract

This contribution introduces a new class of materials for improving the stability of polystyrene (PS) ultrathin films. Two types of three-arm polystyrenes (TA-PS) with different arm lengths are added into PS thin films with thicknesses of 7 and 23 nm. Concentration of the TA-PS additives is varied from 0 to 40 wt%. The morphological change of PS films upon annealing above its glass transition temperature is followed by utilizing optical and atomic force microscopy. Our results show that the addition of TA-PS into PS films leads to significant improvement of the film stability. The dewetting rate of PS film containing only 5 wt% of TA-PS is 3 times slower than that of the pure PS film. The increase of TA-PS concentration results in systematic decrease of the dewetting rate. We also observe that the dewetting-suppression efficiency of the TA-PS depends significantly on its arm length.

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Acknowledgments

This research is financially supported by the National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC), the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NTSDA) (Project P-10-10589). N. Pangpaiboon thanks the Office of the Higher Education Commission for supporting her Ph.D. scholarship under the program Strategic Scholarships for Frontier Research Network. This research is partially supported by the National Center of Excellence for Petroleum, Petrochemical, and Advanced Materials and the NANOTEC-MU Excellence Center on Intelligent Materials and Systems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Unit of Advanced Ceramics, Department of Materials Science, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Nampueng Pangpaiboon & Nisanart Traiphol

  2. Laboratory of Advanced Polymers and Nanomaterials, Department of Chemistry and Center for Innovation in Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, 65000, Thailand

    Rakchart Traiphol

  3. NANOTEC-MU Excellence Center on Intelligent Materials and Systems, Faculty of Science, Rama 6 Road, Ratchathewi, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand

    Rakchart Traiphol

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  1. Nampueng Pangpaiboon
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Correspondence to Nisanart Traiphol.

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Pangpaiboon, N., Traiphol, R. & Traiphol, N. Enhancing the stability of polystyrene ultrathin films by using star-shape polymers as dewetting inhibitors. J Coat Technol Res 12, 1173–1183 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11998-015-9715-y

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