Effect of contact angle on the morphology of nanostructures produced by solution wetting of anodized aluminum oxide templates

Costa, Nathan; Peiwei, LI; Xu, Yong; Liang, Jianyu; Shivkumar, S.

doi:10.1007/s11051-018-4204-8

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The scaling relation between γ and M of polymer solution is also of profound significance in its wetting process. For example, many nanofabrications such as template-assisted nanofabrication needs us to accurately predict the wetting process between polymer solution and anodized aluminum oxide templates, which is determined by both polymer type and surface tension of solution . Capillary filling of polymer liquid in the nanoscale also plays a critical role in many techniques such as modern lab-on-chip applications, which is instructed by the Lucas–Washburn theory where molecular weight dependence of surface tension is indispensable. − Furthermore, the most common technique to make polymer films or substrates with nano-pattern is based on polymer solution, even involves the exchange of solutes and polymer blends. − Therefore, it is necessary to understand the surface tension of the polymer solution for better design of more sophisticated products.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular Weight Dependence of Surface Tension of Poly(ethylene oxide) Solution

Zhang,

Qian,

Zhou

et al. 2023

J. Phys. Chem. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Surface tension plays a critical role in a wide range of fields such as adhesion, wetting, and capillarity. Herein, we combine experiments and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the surface tension (γ) of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) solution as a function of its molecular weight (M). In experiments, we reveal that γ is scaled to M with |γ – γ∞| ∝ M α up to a critical molecular weight (M*). Simulation with a coarse-grained polymer solution model shows that α decreases as the solvent quality becomes worse. The combination of the experiments and simulations reveal that α is slightly affected by PEO concentration. On the other hand, M* decreases as the solvent quality decreases or as the polymer concentration increases. Our study demonstrates that the surface tension of the polymer solution is determined by the adsorption of the polymer at the air–solution surface.

show abstract