Studies of host-guest thin films of corona-poled betaine-type polar molecules by kelvin probe technique and atomic force microscopy

In this work betaine-type molecules were investigated. As a result of the asymmetry of charge distribution, molecules possess in the ground state a considerable permanent dipole moment. The decay of surface potential of poled polymer films is dependent at least on two relaxation processes. The influence of glass transition of PMMA on thermal dependence of the surface potential is shown. The transition temperature, where no changes of the surface potential appeared, is related to glass transition temperature of the host-guest system. The topography of the film surface was obtained by AFM.