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Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Inkjet-printed Polyvinyl Alcohol Multilayers
Published on: May 11, 2017
Versatile multilayer thin film preparation using hydrophobic interactions, crystallization, and chemical modification
Jayaraman K1, Shaw Ling Hsu, Thomas J McCarthy
1Polymer Science and Engineering Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
Abstract:
Multilayer thin film coatings were prepared on silicon substrates. Poly(vinyl alcohol) was adsorbed from aqueous solution to propyldimethylsilyl-modified silicon wafers. This thin semicrystalline coating was chemically modified using acid chlorides to form thicker, hydrophobic coatings. The products of the modification reactions allowed adsorption of a subsequent layer of poly(vinyl alcohol) that could subsequently be hydrophobized. This two-step process (adsorption/chemical modification) allows layer-by-layer deposition to prepare coatings with thickness, chemical structure, and wettability control.
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