Surface morphology of coatings with segregating block copolymers

Polymer surfaces can be functionalised by blending with a small amount of amphiphilic block copolymer, where segregation of the low surface energy block imparts significant changes in surface properties. We propose to investigate the surface morphology of solvent-borne coating formulations functionalised with a surface-active block copolymer using X-ray reflectivity and depth-resolved GISAXS at different grazing angles. We hope to obtain detailed information about block copolymer structuring within the top coating layer, which will complement our previous in-house X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) studies on these systems and give valuable insight into the complex and still relatively unknown behaviour of these broadly applicable materials.