Methods for Characterizing Polymer Surfaces and Interfaces

Abstract

The behavior of polymer molecules at surfaces and interfaces has been receiving a considerable amount of attention over the past few years. Numerous developments have been made theoretically using simulations and analytic approaches. Experimentally, advances have been made in the development of new techniques and the use of old techniques not commonly used in the investigation of polymers to probe the interfacial and near surface behavior of polymers. In this article, some of the experimental developments that have been made recently will be discussed. The approach will be to focus on the behavior of thin films of diblock copolymers and diblock copolymers at the interface between immiscible polymers, describing the different techniques used to study these problems.