Assessing Polymer-Surface Adhesion with a Polymer Collection

Langmuir. 2022 Feb 22;38(7):2220-2226. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.1c02724. Epub 2022 Feb 9.

Abstract

Polymer modification plays an important role in the construction of devices, but the lack of fundamental understanding on polymer-surface adhesion limits the development of miniaturized devices. In this work, a thermoplastic polymer collection was established using the combinatorial laser-induced forward transfer technique as a research platform, to assess the adhesion of polymers to substrates of different wettability. Furthermore, it also revealed the influence of adhesion on dewetting phenomena during the laser transfer and relaxation process, resulting in polymer spots of various morphologies. This gives a general insight into polymer-surface adhesion and connects it with the generation of defined polymer microstructures, which can be a valuable reference for the rational use of polymers.