Thermally Induced Nanocrystal Array of Poly(N-Vinylcarbazole) on Si-Wafer Substrate

Abstract

Recently, nanostructures such as nanocrystals and nanoaggregates have attracted much attention in many quarters of materials, electronics, and biology to create higher-value-added functional nanoscale materials and films. In this research, the fabrication of nanoaggregates on ultrathin photoconductive films of poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVCz) by applying thermal treatment is demonstrated. The structure and size are discussed on the basis of the results of atomic force microscope images. As a result, after thermal treatment of these films above the glass transition temperature (Tg) of PVCz, different types of surface morphological changes were induced showing a dependence on the tacticity of PVCz. Radically polymerized PVCz(r) ultrathin film showed small aggregates with heights of ~8 nm on the film surface after thermal treatment, while cationically polymerized PVCz(c), which has higher isotactic diad fractions than PVCz(r), indicated similar aggregates on the film surface, although the number of aggregates was smaller than PVCz(r). It is considered that these different phenomena depend on the tacticity of PVCz and the interaction between PVCz molecules and the substrate surface.