Polymer Crystallisation in Confined Geometries
University of Bayreuth

Arnaud Chiche is a post doctoral researcher in the Polyfilm network working at the University of Bayreuth in Germany. I studied physics and material sciences at the University of Paris VII (France). During my PhD in the group of Costantino Creton at the ESPCI in Paris, I have investigated the mechanisms involved during the debonding of a soft adhesive film initially in contact with a rigid substrate. I mainly tried to characterize and understand the effect of the interface roughness on the cavitation (growth of cavities from the interface to the bulk of the adhesive film) and the crack propagation (at the interface between a rigid substrate and the soft viscoelastic layer), mostly using adhesion test in confined geometry (flat probe, known as "tack") with in situ microscopy.

I moved then to Washington, DC (USA) for a year and a half, working as a post doctoral researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). I developed there a peel test for high throughput adhesion characterization, and a simple and accessible method to produce nano/micro-patterned surfaces (using the elastic instability occurring during the compression of a supported stiff film – created in situ by oxidation – on a soft elastomeric substrate).

For details about these pictures, contact me!

Iam currently working at the University of Bayreuth (Germany). We are working on several projects related to the crystallisation of polymers or copolymers in confined geometries. Different geometries are considered, from ultra-thin supported films to nanoparticles stabilized in liquids. In both cases, we're interested in the multi-scale morphologies resulting from the polymer crystallisation, the kinetic of these self-assembly processes and the control of these morphologies using external fields for bulk or film patterning. As a first application for functional nano-materials, we are also working on organic photovoltaic devices with an active layer made of self assembled block copolymers (carrying all the required functionalities). For more information on these projects, please contact one of the following people: Adriana Mihut (adriana.mihut@uni-bayreuth.de), Christa Weber (christa.weber@uni-bayreuth.de), Sven Hüttner (sven.huettner@uni-bayreuth.de), Arnaud Chiche (arnaud.chiche@uni-bayreuth.de).