Surface Roughness Characterization of Poly(methylmethacrylate) Films with Immobilized Eu(III) β-Diketonates by Fractal Analysis

Abstract

The structural complexity of the 3-D surface of poly(methylmethacrylate) films with immobilized europium β-diketonates was studied by atomic force microscopy and fractal analysis. Fractal analysis of surface roughness revealed that the 3-D surface has fractal geometry at the nanometer scale. Poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) as immobilization matrix is dense and uniform, and a tendency for formation of chain structures was observed. Fractal analysis can quantify key elements of 3-D surface roughness such as the fractal dimensions Df determined by the morphological envelopes method of the Eu(DBM)3 and Eu(DBM)3 · dpp nanostructures, which are not taken into account by traditional surface statistical parameters.