Effect of molecular architectures in photoinduced birefringence in films of azo-modified diblock copolymers

L.M. SAIZ; I.A. ZUCCHI; P.A. OYANGUREN; M.J .GALANTE; R. SAN FELICE; D. BALOGH; O. N. OLIVEIRA JR.

OPTICAL MATERIALS

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2014 vol. 37 p. 816 - 822

0925-3467

Langmuir films of polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinylpyridine) (PS-b-P4VP) with an azo dye, 4-[4-(phenylazo)-1-naphthylazo]phenol (Disperse Orange 13, DO13), hydrogen-bonded to the pyridine group of P4VP blocks were investigated. The surface pressure isotherms were considerably different for the copolymer dissolved in a nonselective (chloroform) and selective (toluene) solvents. The Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) and Langmuir-Schaefer (LS) films produced with PS-b-P4VP(DO13) copolymers displayed higher optically induced birefringence than the cast films owing to their nanostructured nature. The photoinduced birefringence properties were particularly enhanced when toluene was used owing to the confinement azo chromophores in micelles consisting of a P4VP core and a PS corona.