Influence of Swelling in a Solvent Vapor on the Dielectric Properties of Polystyrene and Polyvinylpyridines Films

The influence of solvent vapor on the dielectric properties of films of polystyrene, poly(2-vinylpyridine), and poly(4-vinylpyridine) has been investigated. A procedure for the measurement of dielectric permittivity via the capacitor method under conditions of strong swelling of the films has been elaborated. It has been found that the swelling in chloroform vapor is the most prominent and leads to noticeable increase in the real part of the dielectric permittivity of the samples. This effect can be used to enhance the dielectric contrast between the domains of a block copolymer. It has been demonstrated that the observed decrease in the polymer glass transition temperature under condition of swelling can be approximated by the group contributions method.