Solvent annealing

Moreover, the solvent-annealing process is rather complex and the underlying delicate balances of enthalpic and entropic contributions to the free energy are not yet understood in detail. Besides the solvent type, the sol-... 

Placencia D, Wang WN, Shallcross RC, Nebesny KW, Brumbach M, Armstrong NR (2009) Organic photovoltaic cells based on solvent-annealed, textured titanyl phthalocyanine/Ceo heterojunctions. Adv Fund Mater 19 1913... 

Fig. 10 Time evolution of the defect density (left-hand axis) and of the orientational order parameter 1 2 (right-hand axis) during combined treatment with an electric field and solvent annealing. The lines are drawn as guides to the eye. The data was collected from 3 x 3 tm2 SFM images. Reprinted with permission from ACS [33]. Copyright 2009 American Chemical Society...

Fig. 20 Shape dependence on the long range LSPR distance dependence for Ag nanoparticles (D = 400 nm). (a) LSPR shift vs number of SAM layer thickness for solvent annealed Ag nanoparticles, (b) LSPR shift vs number of SAM layer thickness for thermally annealed (600 C for 1 h) Ag nanoparticles, (c) AFM image of solvent annealed nanoparticles (a = 114 nm, b = 54 nm). (d) AFM image of thermally annealed nanoparticles (a = 110 nm, b = 61 nm). Reproduced with permission from [40]. Copyright 2004 American Chemical Society...

Fig. 62 SEM images of P(S-fc-EO) and titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) films with TTIP in different solvents annealed at 400 °C for 5 h a isopropanol, b xylene, c chloroform, and d chlorobenzene. (Reprinted with permission from [303], 2006, Institute of Physics Publishing)...

Figure 11.20 Reconstruction of poly(styrene-Z>-4-vinylpyridine) thin films alone and with Au films on the top surface, (a) Solvent annealed film (b) the film reconstructed ftom ethanol (c) nanopoiDus film from glancing angle deposition of gold (d) dots of Au made from thin film of gold (e) rings of Au made from thicker film of gold. (Reproduced with permission from S. Park et al., ACS Nano 2008, 2, 766.)...

We have compared thermal annealing approach and solvent annealing approach to modify the nanoscale phase separation in Section 11.3 however. 

Figure 10.6 Procedure for polymer nanowire fabrication. An aqueous PEDOTtPSS solution was spin-coated on a substrate patterned with a 1.3 ym period grating, then coated with a thin Si02 layer and a PDMS homopolymer brush. A PS-PDMS block-copolymer thin film was then spin-coated and solvent-annealed. The self-assembled block-copolymer patterns were transferred into the underlying PEDOT-.PSS film through a series of reactive ion etching steps employing CF4 and O2 plasmas. (Reprinted with permission from Nano Letters, Nanowire Conductive Polymer Gas Sensor Patterned Using Self-Assembled Block Copolymer Lithography by Y. S. Jung et al., 8, 11. Copyright (2008) American Chemical Society)...

The porous films can be obtained by inducing the structure inversion of the 2-D colloidal sphere arrays in an enclosed chamber through solvent annealing for 6-9 h. The chamber is filled with THF vapor from the solvent reservoir, and the temperature of the system is controlled to be 30°C. For microscopic observations, the structures formed are dried in a 30°C vacuum oven for 12 h. A typical SEM... 

Figure 5.23. Typical SEM image of the mesoporous structures formed by the in situ sphere-pore inversion of the azo polymer colloidal sphere array, induced by solvent annealing. Inset SEM image of the colloidal sphere array before the solvent treatment. Source From Li et al., 2006c.

To assemble the polymers, the gold-coated substrate containing the MHA pattern and backfilled ODT was placed into a spin coater. The PS/PMMA 1% wt. solution in DMF with 50/50 weight ratio was drop cast and then spim coat at 5000 rpm for 60 seconds. The polymer assembled substrate was then placed in a glass desiccator, which contained toluene, where it was solvent annealed for 45 minufes. 

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