The kinetics of formation and morphological memory of polymeric nanostructures

The mesokinetic model of the polymeric body formation was formulated, describing the nucleation, growth and aggregation of macromolecules followed by the aggregates' assembly into the nanostructured body. According to this model, the near-surface nanostructure of the polymeric body retains the information on how it was formed, and this information can be extracted from the morphological characteristics of the microrelief of the body while maintaining its integrity, that is, body has the morphological memory. The mesokinetic model was used to study film formation by the evaporation of an oxylene or toluene solution of polystyrene, which provided an opportunity to identify the kinetics of nanostructure formation found in the surface area of the film after completion of the process. It turned out that at the beginning of evaporation, a number of the primary macromolecules in the form of spheroidal nanoparticles were formed, and then, the primary aggregates coalesced into the secondary aggregates forming the ordered chains of nanoparticles.