Polymer membranes, applications planar

Planar polymer films (either free-standing or at interfaces) are of particular interest, not only because they are preferred in many applications, but also because they allow for surface studies which could not be performed on vesicles. Langmuir monolayers from a vesicle-forming amphiphilic triblock copolymer were studied towards understanding the polymer interactions with a cation transporting peptide, alamethicin [275]. Planar solid supported block copolymer membranes are... 

In practical applications, very often diffusion is not semi-infinite. Such finite-length linear diffusion is observed, for example, for internal diffusion into mercury film deposited on a planar electrode, in deposited conducting polymers, for hydrogen diffusion into thin films or membranes of Pd or other hydrogen absorbing materials, or for a rotating disk electrode where the diffusion layer corresponds to the layer thickness. There are two cases of finite-length diffusion displayed Fig. 4.11 ... 

Surface modification with thin planar films from amphiphilic block copolymers yields versatile materials with many potential applications. For instance, the wetting or lubrication behavior can be tuned in a desired way. Additionally, systems for biomaterials science can be designed. Moreover, such modifications are also effective in fields like nanoparticle synthesis or membrane mimics. These and more examples of planar surfaces functionalized with amphiphilic block copolymers will be presented. Since the possibilities for the preparation of such materials are as diverse as their potential use, a short section introducing the main preparation techniques will precede this discussion. Generally speaking, either a polymer film or a film of polymer aggregates can be deposited. In Sect. 2.1, we will discuss the preparation, structure, and applications of polymer films. The formation, structure, and application of surface aggregates follows in Sect. 2.2. 

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