1 research outputs found
Thin Polyelectrolyte Multilayers Made by Inkjet Printing and Their Characterization by Nanomechanical Cantilever Sensors
Measurements with nanomechanical
cantilever (NMC) sensors often reveal only qualitative results. Here
we overcome this issue by inkjet printing well-defined polyelectrolyte
multilayers (PEMs). We present a method that allows fabricating a
40 bilayer (BL) thick and 5 mm long line made of polyÂ(allylamine hydrochloride)
(PAH) and polystyrene sulfonate (PSS). NMC sensors were used to quantify
the uptake of water in thin PEMs. We measured and analyzed the mass
loading and the swelling response of the PEMs upon exposure to relative
humidity between 5% and 80%. For a film made of 5 BLs we determined
a Young’s module of ∼390 MPa for low humidity (<5%).
Thicker PEM films made by 10 BLs exhibited a higher Young’s
module of ∼560 MPa. The Young’s module decreased in
both cases to 2–3 MPa at 80% relative humidity. Furthermore,
the NMC measurements of mass and swelling upon exposure to humidity
indicated a thickness-dependent swelling of the PEMs