Surface Mounting of Chromophores

The modified surface of the electroactive polymer was further studied by atomic force microscopy. This was done by making "force-distance" measurements on both modified and unmodified polymer surfaces. These measurements involve pressing the AFM cantilever into the polymer surface, then measuring the amount of force required to pull it away. Since the polymer surface is very rough on the AFM size scale, the cantilever was modified by attaching a 5 micro silica sphere. This sphere could also be derivatized to give chemical sensitivity to the probe.

The results below show that the films were homogeneously modified and that the changes observed in the surface energies were a result of the thiol, not some other processing parameter. Further, they show that the density of thiol packing is very high, nearly equivalent to that seen on a glass surface.

More Surface Chemistry

Back to Surface Chemistry page 1

Back to Outline