Investigation of molecular chain orientation change of polymer crystals in phase transitions by friction anisotropy measurement.
Direct observation of the molecular orientation change in polymer crystals provides us visible information for understanding their structural phase-transition mechanisms. In this letter, we successfully identified the main-chain orientation of poly(vinylidenefluoride-trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE)) crystals over all directions using friction anisotropy measured by lateral-modulation friction force microscopy (LM-FFM). This technique made possible our investigation of molecular orientation changes caused by a ferroelectric phase transition and also a fabrication process for artificial nanometer-scale structures. These results give us visual information that is directly connected to the transition mechanisms.
Kimura
Kuniko
K
Department of Electronic Science and Engineering, Kyoto University, Katsura, Nishikyo, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan. kimurak@icc.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Kobayashi
Kei
K
Yamada
Hirofumi
H
Matsushige
Kazumi
K