Progresses in the glass transition and molecular dynamics of thin polymer film

Abstract

With the advances in nanotechnology, the glass transition and chain relaxation behavior for polymer molecules in a confined geometry have been attracted great attentions. Due to the nano-scale effects, the molecular dynamics of polymer thin film deviates from that in the bulk, and are a function of the dimension of films (i.e. thickness). The studies of the molecular dynamic in polymer thin film are of significant importance both in term of optimizing the physical properties of polymer nanomaterials and also in the developing our understanding of the nature of glass transition for amorphous materials. In this paper, some important results in the field of the dynamics of thin polymer film are reviewed. We summarized the physical mechanisms responsible for the deviation of chain dynamic from that in bulk, and discussed the distribution of chain mobility in polymer thin film, as well, some theoretical models describing the glass transition of thin polymer film was introduced. In the end, the problems in this field and prospects in the further studies were also discussed.