A comparison of drop-cast and spin-cast films of poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(ε- caprolactone) using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy

de Montmollin, William

A comparison of drop-cast and spin-cast films of poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(ε- caprolactone) using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy

Persistent URL

http://hdl.handle.net/10456/35970

Author(s)

de Montmollin, William

Date Issued

April 10, 2014

Abstract

PEO-b-PCL thin films were made from chloroform and THF solutions using two different casting methods—drop-casting and spin-casting. FTIR spectroscopy was used to determine crystalline content for each block. The films were analyzed by comparing as-cast films to their recrystallized from melt films in order to investigate the effect of casting method on the relative crystallinity of each polymer and the crystal directionality in the thin films. However, film recrystallization was inconsistent, and most of the films could not be reliably compared. Chloroform films of both casting methods showed suppressed PEO crystallinity in the recrystallized from melt films and much lower crystallinity overall. None of the spin-cast chloroform films recrystallized, while most of drop-cast ones did. Spin-cast THF films were found to have more crystal axes oriented perpendicular to the IR beam than the drop-cast films.

Honors

Chemistry, 2014

First Reader(s)

Van Horn, Ryan