Imprinting of polymer thin films and exploring structural decay presents an important problem from both fundamental and application standpoint as they find use in various applications such as nanoimprint and E-beam lithography. Focus has shifted in recent years to develop strategies to selectively tune the structure formation and decay behaviour due to many technological advantages in the field of optical electronics. This work explores the effect of ionic liquid (I.L.) in nanostructure formation and its subsequent decay caused by thermal exposure. Addition of ionic liquids signifcantly altered the structure formation kinetics due to the change in the effective surface energy of the system. Capillary forces and surface energy driven viscous forces changes by incorporation of I.Ls. Utilizing ex-situ atomic force microscopy measurements, decay kinetics of the imprinted structures provide insights into on effective plasticising/antiplasticising capability of I.L and the stress relaxation of the film. These results provide a simple strategy to control and effectively tune nano-structural integrity in imprinted polymer films by using I.Ls.

Exploring the impact of ionic liquids in imprinted nano-structure formation and decay

256th National Meeting (2018)

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