Nanostructure of polymer layers formed upon the adsorption from binary and ternary solutions

Thicknesses of nanolayers formed upon the adsorption from dilute and semidilute solutions of polystyrene, poly(butyl methacrylate), and their mixtures on the surface of solid SiO2 are estimated on the basis of adsorption isotherms and atomic force microscopy measurements. It is established that the thickness of an adsorption layer is determined by the sizes of individual macromolecular coils and clusters arising in a solution. In the case of polymer blends, adsorption leads to the formation of mosaic structures with the alternation of polymeric components in the substrate plane; the characteristic size of a domain is approximate to 200 nm for each component. It is shown that adsorption layers formed on the surface of a silicon single crystal (covered with intact oxide) are fractal objects whose dimension depends on the nature of polymer and conditions of its adsorption.