NEUTRON REFLECTIVITY STUDIES OF COMPOSITE NANOPARTICLE COPOLYMER THIN-FILMS

Neutron reflection was used for the investigation of a new class of co polymers - composite materials, consisting of symmetric polystyrene-po lybuthylmethacrylate (PS-PBMA) diblock copolymer with incorporated nan oparticles gamma-Fe2O3 of a few nanometers in diameter. The presence o f the nanoparticles induces an elastic distortion of the copolymer mat rix. From the experiments we obtained information about the lamellar o rder of the polymer matrix, the distribution of the nanoparticles in t he film and the distortion of the interfaces caused by the nanoparticl es. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.