Polymeric (insulator) materials can be chargedupon contact to other materials or themselves and store the developed chargedfor a long time i.e. several hours to days. Although there are numerous studieson charged polymers, it is still unclear how these charges can be preserved forsuch a long time on the surfaces of these polymers. To investigate thisphenomenon we sprayed ions from an �ion-gun� onto the polymers such as PDMS, PCand PMMA and investigated the charge development and decay at macroscopic leveland also investigated the changes on the surfaces by Atomic Force Microscopy(AFM) and Kelvin Force Microscopy (KFM).Locating and seeing charges on polymeric surfacesis of great help to understand the mechanism of charging on these surfaceswhich is important not only for the basic scientific research but also forpractical purposes such as the prevention of static electricity on the polymersurfaces upon their manufacturing and utilization.Literature and Notes: [1] a) R. G. Horn, D. T. Smith, Science 1992, 256, 362-364; b) R. G. Horn, D. T. Smith, A. Grabbe, Nature 1993, 366, 442-443. c) Jacobs, H. O., Whitesides, G. M. Science 2001, 291, 1763-1766.This work wassupported by the US Department ofEnergy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences as part of the Non-EquilibriumEnergy Research Center (NERC), an Energy Frontier Research Center.

Seeing charges
on polymer surfaces: Kelvin force
microscopy of charged polymers

241st National Meeting (2011)

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Seeing charges on polymer surfaces: Kelvin force microscopy of charged polymers