Effect of Film Structure and Morphology

The mechanical properties of PAn differ considerably between the electrochemi-cally prepared polymer and that produced from solvent casting. As described earlier, electropolymerized emeraldine salts are highly porous and, consequently, have low mechanical strength. Freestanding films may be prepared electrochemically, but their poor mechanical properties limit their usefulness. In contrast, the polymers made from solution are much less porous and are widely used as freestanding films and fibers. The effect of polymer structures and morphology on PAn mechanical properties are described in the following text. 

Fig. 8 illustrates two models for the aging effects on the structure and morphology of a one-layer LB film of pentadecyl-TCNQ proposed by Morita et al. [34], The top model shows that the thickness of the bottom layer of the aged one-layer LB film is very close to that of the fresh film and that the top layer has a thinner thickness with tilted hydrocarbon chains. The bottom model depicts that both the bottom and the top layers have similar thickness with tilted hydrocarbon chains. 

Fluoride and chloride are particularly nucleophilic and may even permeate the crystalline lattice. These ions have a pronounced effect on the structure and morphology of the oxide film, because they strongly influence nucleation, growth, and aging of polynuclear structures during hydrolysis of... 

The hb-PAEs of hb-P13 and hb-P15 contain NLO-active azo-functionalities, which are soluble, film-forming, and morphologically stable (Tg > 180 °C). Their poled films exhibited high SHG coefficients ( 33 up to 177pm/V), thanks to the chromophore-separation and site-isolation effects of the hyperbranched structures of the polymers in the three-dimensional space (Table 5) [28]. The optical nonlinearities of the poled films of the polymers are thermally stable with no drop in d33 observable when heated to 152 °C (Fig. 8), due to the facile cross-linking of the multiple acetylenic triple bonds in the hb-PAEs at moderate temperatures (e.g., 88 °C). 

The structure and morphology of the a-Si H films obviously depend greatly on the form of the growing surface. In situ ellipsometry is a powerful experimental tool which gives information about the surface layer during the deposition, by measuring the optical constants of the film. The effective dielectric fimction of the material is obtained from... 

There are two basic problems in activation of inert substrates by electrodeposition first, the effect of the structure of the active surface film on the transformation of electrode from inert to active one7 and second, effect of the surface morphology on the polarization characteristics of activated electrodes.8,9 Obviously, in the last case, the nature of the initial substrate is not important. The analysis of both of them is the aim of this chapter. It will be performed for the cathodic reactions. Obviously, the corresponding analysis for the anodic processes can be performed in the similar way. 

Du et al. [67] investigated effects of layered architecture and blend morphology on the SM behavior using thermoplastic PU and PCL. The PU/PCL ratios set were 75/25,50/50, and 25/75, respectively. The layered structure was achieved by a special multilayer coextrusion technique. The layer thickness varied with the composition ratio whereby keeping the number of layers and the overall thickness of the multilayer film as constants. of PCL served as 70 °C) during shape... 

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