Guillaume Vignaud

My research focuses on the physico-chemistry of thin polymer films and their interfaces. It aims, on one hand, to understand the physical properties of films confined at the nanoscale, and on the other hand, the behavior of these polymer interfaces with their environment — particularly biological — up to the development of functional coatings.

Axis 1 — Physico-chemistry of thin polymer films: structure, dynamics and phase transitions

• Confinement effects: influence of film thickness on the glass transition temperature, density and mechanical properties of polymers.
• Stability and dewetting: physical aging, swelling under solvent or supercritical CO₂, stability of ultrathin films (< 7 nm).
• Functional materials: study of metal-insulator transition materials (VO₂) in thin films.
• Analytical methods: X-ray reflectivity and scattering, spectroscopic ellipsometry, quartz crystal microbalance, synchrotron experiments.

Axis 2 — Polymer interfaces and biofouling: from adhesion to functional coatings

• Bacterial adhesion: role of the mechanical properties (Young's modulus) of a polymer layer in microbial adhesion.
• Antifouling coatings: design and evaluation of films with anti-bioadhesion properties (polyhydroxyalkanoates, marine-derived exopolysaccharides).

• Applications: functional coatings for marine and industrial environments.

  Publications

  My research has resulted in more than 50 publications in peer-reviewed international journals (h-index = 27 according to Google Scholar), including in ACS Nano, Macromolecules, Langmuir and Physical Review Letters. The full list of my publications is available on Google Scholar and HAL.