ИСТИНА

Solvent vapor annealing is as an effective and versatile alternative to thermal annealing to equilibrate as well as to control the assembly of polymer chains in thin films. Here we present scientific and practical aspects of the solvent vapor annealing method, including the discussion of internal and external factors such as, e.g. non-equilibrium states of chain conformations and arrangement of the annealing device. Homopolymer and block copolymer films have been used in model studies to evaluate the robustness and reproducibility of the solvent vapor processing, as well as to gain novel insights into chain dynamics in thin films in the presence of solvent molecules. Special focus is given to dual temperature control over the set-up instrumentation and to the potential of solvo-thermal annealing. The evaluated insights into solvent-polymer interactions, including swollen polymer network films and into annealing dynamics derived from the studies on block copolymer films can be applied to improve the processing of homopolymer and polymer-composite films.