The selectivity of poly(2-vinylpyridine- block-methyl methacrylate) copolymer films: an AFM study

Sana Rahim; Adnan Murad Bhayo; Ghayas Uddin Siddiqui; Aneela Maalik; Najma Memon; Muhammad Raza Shah; Muhammad Imran Malik

doi:10.1039/c9ra00831d

The selectivity of poly(2-vinylpyridine- block-methyl methacrylate) copolymer films: an AFM study

RSC Adv. 2019 May 28;9(29):16455-16466. doi: 10.1039/c9ra00831d. eCollection 2019 May 24.

Authors

Sana Rahim¹, Adnan Murad Bhayo¹, Ghayas Uddin Siddiqui¹, Aneela Maalik², Najma Memon³, Muhammad Raza Shah¹, Muhammad Imran Malik¹

Affiliations

¹ HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry, International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi Karachi 75270 Pakistan mimran.malik@iccs.edu.
² Department of Chemistry, COMSATS University Islamabad Campus Islamabad 45550 Pakistan.
³ National Centre of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry, University of Sindh Jamshoro Sindh Pakistan.

Abstract

In this study, the surface morphologies of poly(2-vinyl pyridine-block-methyl methacrylate), P(2VP-MMA), copolymer films were analyzed by atomic force microscopy. P(2VP-MMA) samples varying in total molar mass and individual block length were evaluated for variations in the surface morphologies of films cast from toluene on Si wafers. The incorporation of AuNPs into the polymer domain significantly influenced the surface morphology of the films. Variations in the surface morphology as a function of the polarity of the casting solvent were also examined. In this context toluene (a non-polar solvent), chloroform (of intermediate polarity) and ethyl acetate (a polar solvent) were employed as casting solvents. Toluene is a good solvent for PMMA compared to P2VP, chloroform has no preferential solvation, while ethyl acetate is a good solvent for P2VP compared to PMMA. The morphology of the films cast on substrates of distinctly different polarities, such as mica, Si wafers, and HOPG, were studied to appraise their selectivity. Finally, a detailed study of the effects of thermal annealing on the surface morphologies of P(2VP-MMA) and P(2VP-MMA)-AuNPs was conducted.