Confinement disentangles polymer chains in thin films

NICOLÁS A. GARCÍA; BARRAT, JEAN-LOUIS

Annual Report 2019 Institut Laue Langevin

Institut Laue Langevin

Lugar: Grenoble; Año: 2020; p. 70 - 71

Polymer thin films are ubiquitous in our daily life, encompassing applications ranging from packaging and food wrapping to adhesives, lubricants and protective coatings for furniture and glasses. They are also widely used in microelectronics and nanotechnology. On a day-to-day basis, the thickness of the films decreases to dimensions comparable with the size of a single polymer chain. Hence, an important question arises as to whether such small dimensions under confinement changes the fundamental properties of polymers. In this paper, we shed light on this intriguing issue.