Effect of Confinement on Polymer Dynamics in Thin Films

Wilfried Béziel is currently enrolled as a PhD student at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, department of physics, in the Laboratoire de Physique Experimental des Interfaces lead by Prof. M. Sferrazza.

Past Experience

He received his Master degree at the University of Rennes 1, France. During this period, he studied a liquid crystal confined in porous silicon. The study was centred on anisotropic quenched disorder effects of smectic liquid crystal by neutron diffraction. He designed and carried out experiments on a diffractometer G6.1 at Laboratoire Leon Brillouin, Saclay (France) and on the inelastic spectrometer IN16 at Institut Laue Langevin, Grenoble (France).

Current Project

He will be involved in experimental studies to elucidate the effect of confinement on the structure of thin polymer films, using various techniques including, in particular, the technique of neutron reflectivity performed at international facilities. 

The influence of the type of confinement and chain conformation as well as the interactions with the walls on the dynamic of the polymer chains will be probed as the first step.