Seminars Archive

Structure and Forces in Soft Materials under Nanoscale Confinement

Abstract
Soft materials, when confined to films and monolayers of nanometer-scale thickness, exhibit spontaneous transitions to ordered structures that are not found in bulk. These structural transitions can be used as generalized drives for formation of nanoparticles and for assembling two-dimensional patterns and networks in the nanoscale. In turn, theses transitions are driven by inter- and intra-molecular forces that come to play in specific molecular conformations arising out of the confinement. We have used the BEAR beamline for investigating these confinement-induced molecular forces and their role in structural transition and nanoscale assembly in a number of situations such as neutral and charged polymers and macromolecules, amphiphilic molecules and metal-organic nanocomposite. Some of the interesting results of this extensive study will be presented.