Stress enhanced gold dispersion by solvent induced crystallization in BPA-PC membranes

In this paper the embedding of gold clusters in crystallizing bisphenol-A polycarbonate is treated as diffusion with drift in inhomogeneous and changing in time medium. Initially the gold is deposited on the polymer surface, which is subsequently exposed to acetone vapour. The polymer undergoes significant crystallization, induced by diffusing agent, while gold clusters become embedded in its bulk. The paper presents a model of gold dispersion based on Smoluchowski equation. It identifies the driving force of dispersion with the gradient of stress field generated during crystallization. Numerical results of the model are found to be in good agreement with available experimental data obtained by XPS depth profiling technique.