Abstract:

We explored the effect of flow field under stirring on layer-by-layer(LbL) assembly films in different stages. The agitation was respectively introduced in the deposition and rinsing stages, then we designed an orthogonal experiment in which the deposition stage and rinsing stage were set as the two elements and agitation and still standing were set as the two standards. Afterwards, UV-Vis spectroscopy was used to track the assembly process, atomic force mircroscope(AFM) was used to observe the surface roughness of the film, and X-ray reflection(XRR) was used to estimate the thickness and surface roughness of the film. The results show that flow field could accelerate the contact between the polymer and the substrate to promote the assembly speed in deposition stage, while flow field produced more strong flushing action to smooth the film surface in rinsing stage. This study has indicated the important role that the rinsing stage plays in the LbL assembly and provides new strategy to rapidly fabricate thin films and to adjust film structures.

Key words: Layer-by-layer assembly(LbL), Nano thin film, Stirring, Flow field, Deposition, Rinsing