Material Science & Engineering World Conference 2026

Abstract

The review of the late results related to molecular mobility in near-surface nano-layers of different polymer objects, which were obtained with the help of unique device the Nanoluminograph developed  at Ioffe Institute (St.Petersburg, Russia) in  collaboration with PlasmaChem GmbH (Germany) and patented in Russian and USA. The work of the Nanoluminograph is based on thermoluminescence phenomenon for which activating the investigated material by the high frequency (13,35MHz) low temperature low power plasma of glow discharge is used. It allows one to analyze the physical structure and molecular packing of surface top-layers. The thickness of the analysed surface layer depends on activation energy and may vary from 5 nm to several microns. Analysis of plasma-induced thermoluminescence (PITL) brings unique, new information on the relaxation properties of surface nano-layers, their physical structure, and molecular packing. This method is useful for any academic or industrial laboratory involved in investigation of surface, ultra-thin films, coatings, micro- and nano-structured assemblies and particles, etc. It can be easily adopted for industrial surface quality control. Alternatively, the Nanoluminograph can be used for investigation of surface physical-chemical processes (e.g., reactions of active species on the surface) and to study the interaction of irradiation (e.g., glow discharge) with the solid state.