Real-Time Determination of the Slippage Length in Autophobic Polymer Dewetting

We investigated the kinetics of autophobic dewetting, caused by differences in entropy, of a polymer melt slipping on a monolayer of end-grafted identical molecules (polymer brush). From simultaneous measures of the dewetted distance and the width of the resulting rim, we obtained in real time and quantitatively the slippage length and the contact angle, a measure of the "incompatibility" between identical molecules. Furthermore, we could directly relate a decrease in the slippage length in the course of the experiments at elevated temperatures to temporal or permanent attachment of polymers from the melt to the brush.