Azopolymer film as light based actuator to organize carbon nanotubes

M. G. CAPELUTO; S. GOYANES; S. A. LEDESMA

Conferencia; IX Reunión Iberoamericana de Óptica / XII Reunión Iberoamericana de Óptica, Láseres y Aplicaciones, RIAO/OPTILAS 2016; 2016

The azopolymers films provide a unique platform, where the photoisomerization of azoben-zene molecules can induce substantial movement, not only at molecular level but also in mesoscop-ic and macroscopic scales. The ability to produce surface relief in these materials, allows the devel-opment of numerous photonic elements such as diffraction gratings, microlens arrays, plasmonic sensors, anti-reflective coatings and nanostructured polarization converters. This is accomplished by using the material itself as optical element or using them to generate micro or nanostructures in other materials. Moreover, the development of hybrid materials composed of carbon nanotubes and azopolymers, allow the generation of new materials that inherits the properties of both: the azopol-ymer and the nanostructuresIn this work we study azopolymers and their interaction with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by inducing surface relief gratings (SRG) through optical illumination. In particular, we show that it is possible to organize such MWCNT through illumination. The SRG were pro-duced on the azopolymer by using a Lloyd interferometer. The azopolymer films was deposited by spin coating on a coverslip from a commercial polymer Poly[1-[4-(3-carboxy-4-hydroxyphenylazo) benzenesulfonamido]-1,2 ethanediyl, sodium salt] (PAZO). Two kind of samples were made. On one hand, MWCNT were deposited on a SRG recorded in the azopolymer film. On the other hand, MWCNT were deposited on the azopolymer film, and then the azopolymer with the MWCNT were illuminated with the interference pattern to induce a SRG. The topography of the sample was meas-ured using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), showing in all cases a periodic distribution of crests and troughs, as it was expected. It was observed that the MWCNT were localized in different regions of the sample regarding the procedure used to fabricate the sample. In the first case it was observed that MWCNTs are preferably located in the troughs. In the second case, the MWCNTs were observed in the material in the area of the crests. With this experiment we show the great po-tential of this material as an actuator to induce movement in the nanoscale, that is controlled with light from the far field.