Investigation of the chain mobility of polystyrene upon incorporation of probe molecules

The physical properties of nanoscale polymer material are vastly different from those of bulk polymers. The reason for this behavior is unclear but has been associated with polymer chain mobility. Probe molecules are used to determine the physical properties and the dynamics of chain mobility of polystyrene thin films. Probe molecules such as phthalocyanine (PM-I) and violanthrone (PM-II) are quantitatively incorporated into PS and subjected to thermal treatment. The effect of the migration of these probes on the thermal behavior of PS films was followed using DSC and Spectroscopy. The PS films with PM-I has been shown increase in the T_g, whereas with PM-II, there is steep decrease in the T_g. However on thermal treatment of PS films with probe molecules has shown no effect on the T_g.