CRYSTALLIZATION OF FUNCTIONAL POLYMER COATINGS ONTO NANOSTRUCTURED SUBSTRATES PREPARED BY DIP COATING.

Surfaces coated by functional polymers have been the subject of great interest, mainly due to their interesting optical properties and their potential applications in light harvesting, photocatalysis and photovoltaic devices. The functionality of these coatings are directly related to their morphological and structural features. Preparation conditions and the properties of the substrates affect the developement of the morphology and structure of the coating. When dealing with ultrathin films and coating, dewetting effects rule the obtained morphologies, leading to the generation of inherently random structures. However, it has been proved that, for the case of amorphous polymers, dewetting instabilites can be controlled by using nanostructured substrates. In recent years we have developed different methodologies to obtain nanostructured substrates. In this proposal we aim to investigate the semicrystalline structure of coatings of ferroelectric polymer PVDF-TrFE, semiconducting polymer P3HT and bilayers of these systems onto nanostructured substrates with different surface properties. With the obtained results we will obtain information about the crystalline structure of the coatings as a function of preparation conditions and of substrates nanostructuring and properties. This information will allow us to determine the possibilities for templating crystallization and dewetting effects using nanostructured substrates for further applicability of these coatings in photocatalytic, photovoltaic and ferroelectric devices.