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Published on: September 6, 2012
Sector spin coating for fast preparation of polymer libraries
Berend-Jan de Gans1, Sanne Wijnans, Daan Woutes
1Laboratory of Macromolecular Chemistry and Nanoscience, Eindhoven University of Technology and Dutch Polymer Institute, PO Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Journal of Combinatorial Chemistry
|November 15, 2005
Summary
Sector spin coating enables rapid material library generation for polymer analysis. This combinatorial technique efficiently creates diverse polymer films for high-throughput characterization, accelerating materials discovery.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Polymer Chemistry
Background:
- Combinatorial synthesis accelerates materials discovery by enabling rapid screening of diverse compounds.
- Spin coating is a common technique for thin film deposition, but traditional methods lack high-throughput capabilities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate the feasibility of sector spin coating for creating combinatorial material libraries.
- To evaluate the efficiency of sector spin coating for polymer blend and diblock copolymer analysis.
Main Methods:
- Sector spin coating using a metal template to divide a single substrate into multiple sectors.
- Automated atomic force microscopy (AFM) for analyzing poly(methyl methacrylate)/polystyrene blends.
- Contact angle measurements for polyoxazoline diblock copolymers.
- Surface energy calculations using the Owens-Wendt-Rath-Kaeble method.
Main Results:
- Sector spin coating allows for controlled film thickness variation in the angular direction and uniformity in the radial direction.
- A library of 8 polymer blends was analyzed with 24 AFM measurements in 72 minutes.
- A library of 16 diblock copolymers was characterized by contact angle measurements, with 48 measurements completed in 50 minutes.
- Polymer libraries were classified into three groups based on surface energy, correlating with the presence of dispersive or polar blocks.
Conclusions:
- Sector spin coating is a viable high-throughput method for generating polymer material libraries.
- This technique significantly reduces analysis time for polymer blends and copolymers.
- The method facilitates rapid screening and classification of polymers based on their surface properties.
