0000000000422016
AUTHOR
Markus Seitz
Second harmonic generation in self-assembled alternating multilayers of hemicyanine containing polymers and polyvinylamine
Abstract Assembly of noncentrosymmetric multilayers is a facile technique for preparing noncentrosymmetric films avoiding electrical poling procedures and problems from subsequent relaxation of the induced orientational order. A maximum Xzzz of 13 × 10−9 esu was achieved for the assembly of up to six layers. Current problems are the long-term hydrolysation of the hemicyanine nonlinear optical chromophores and the reduction of polar orientation with increasing layer thickness.
Detection of phase transitions in thin films with a quartz crystal microbalance
Abstract The quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) is used to determine the phase transition point of thin films by measuring the change in frequency as a function of temperature. To elucidate this relationship, two types of polymers were studied where the bulk phase transitions were known. We investigated a casted thin film of an amphiphilic polyoxazoline and a Langmuir-Blodgett film comprised of fifteen double layers of an amphotropic polyacrylate. The phase transition points of the thin films could be detected by the QCM which were in the same range as for the bulk materials.
Self-organization of amphiphilic N-acylated linear polyethyleneimines: investigation of a reversible monolayer collapse
Abstract Poly-N-4-decyloxybenzoylethyleneimine, highly crystalline in bulk, forms a stable monolayer at the air-water interface which undergoes a reversible collapse into a probable bilayer structure at higher surface pressures. We achieved transfer both from the monolayer and “bilayer” region of the polymer film at the water surface onto hydrophilic and hydrophobized quartz supports. Based on X-ray investigations on the deposited Langmuir-Blodgett films, a possible mechanism for the reversible collapse is proposed.