MRSEC at University of Massachusetts at Amherst Thomas P.

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MRSEC at University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Thomas P. Russell DMR-0625256Wetting
Cylindrical Alumina Nanopores with Polymer Melts
The wetting of cylindrical nanopores in alumina
membranes with polystyrene melts was investigated
and a wetting transition from the capillary
action to the spreading of precursor film was
observed with increasing annealing temperature.
This transition was observable on as a
consequence of the nanoscopic size of the pores.
The wetting transition is due to the change of
the spreading coefficient from negative (partial
wetting) to positive (complete wetting) with
increasing annealing temperature, and the
transition temperature is dependent on the
polymer molecular weight. Thus, simply by
controlling the annealing temperature, polymeric
nanostructures can be tailored by wetting
nanoporous alumina membranes with polymer melts.
(M. Zhang, P. Dobriyal, J.-T. Chen, A. Merry
(RET, Salem H.S.), J.Olmo (RET, Ludlow H.S.) and
T. P. Russell