Molecular-level interactions of an azopolymer and poly(dodecylmethacrylate) in mixed Langmuir and Langmuir–Blodgett films for optical storage

Abstract

The applicability of azopolymers in optical storage can be extended through the use of nanostructured films produced with the Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) technique, but the film properties need to be optimized since these polymers generally do not form stable Langmuir films to be transferred onto solid substrates. Here, photoinduced birefringence was investigated for mixed Langmuir–Blodgett films from the homopolymers 4-[ N-ethyl- N-(2-methacryloxyethyl)]-4′-nitroazobenzene (HPDR1-MA) and poly(dodecylmethacrylate) (HPDod-MA). The interactions between these polymers were studied in Langmuir and LB films. Surface pressure–area isotherms pointed to molecular-level interactions for proportions of 51 mf%, 41 mf% and 31 mf% of HPDR1-MA. Phase segregation was not apparent in the BAM images, in which the morphology of the blend film was clearly different from that of the Langmuir films of neat homopolymers. Through PM-IRRAS, we noted that the interaction between the azopolymer and HPDod-MA affected the orientation of carbonyl groups. Strong interactions for the mixture with 41 mf% of poly(dodecylmethacrylate) led to stable Langmuir films that were transferred onto solid supports as LB films. The photoinduced birefringence of 101-layer mixed LB films show features that make these films useful for optical storage, with the advantage of short writing times in comparison to other azopolymer films.