Roll-to-roll manufacturing machines and methods for producing nanostructure-containing polymer films

A roll-to-roll machine comprising:

• means for applying a liquid polymer on a substrate to form a liquid polymer film;
• means for at least partially embedding nanostructures into the liquid polymer film, the nanostructures being magnetic;
• means for melt casting a layer of a molten polymer on the liquid polymer film to produce a thin polymer film;
• a carrier that supports and transports the thin polymer film in a propagation direction of the roll-to-roll machine;
• means for organizing the nanostructures in a thickness direction of the thin polymer film comprising applying an electric field to the thin polymer film while supported and transported by the carrier;
• a chiller unit that sufficiently solidifies the thin polymer film to immobilize the nanostructures therein while the thin polymer film is supported and transported by the carrier;
• means for aligning the nanostructures in the thin polymer film downstream of the chiller unit in the propagation direction by simultaneously subjecting the thin polymer film to heat and a magnetic field that aligns the nanostructures while the thin polymer film is supported and transported by the carrier, the aligning means comprising a magnetic field generator that is configured to generate the magnetic field, a first laser configured and aligned to direct a first laser beam onto the thin polymer film at a first location adjacent to and upstream of the magnetic field generator, and a second laser that is configured and aligned tilted at an angle relative to the first laser to direct a second laser beam at a second location within the magnetic field at which the strength of the magnetic field is at a maximum on the thin polymer film, wherein the thin polymer film remains in a solid state until entering the location within the magnetic field, and wherein the aligning means is configured to simultaneously melt the thin polymer film with the second laser beam within the second location and align the nanoparticles in nanocolumns in the thickness direction of the polymer film with the magnetic field within the location;
• and
• means for solidifying the thin polymer film to freeze the nanostructures along the nanocolumns in a thickness direction of a solidified polymer film resulting therefrom.