Lateral order and self-organized morphology of diblock copolymer micellar films

Jiun You Liou, Ya Sen Sun

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report the lateral order and self-organized morphology of diblock copolymer polystyrene-block-poly(2-vinylpyridine), P(S-b-2VP), and micelles on silicon substrates (SiOx/Si). These micellar films were prepared by spin coating from polymer solutions of varied concentration of polymer in toluene onto SiOx/Si, and were investigated with grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) and an atomic force microscope (AFM).With progressively increased surface coverage with increasing concentration, loosely packed spherical micelles, ribbon-like nanostructures, and a second layer of spherical micelles were obtained sequentially. Quantitative analysis and simulations of the micellar packing demonstrates that the spatial ordering of the loosely packed spherical micelles altered from short-range order to hexagonal order when the micellar coverage increased from small to moderate densities of the covered surface. At large densities, anisotropic fusion between spherical micelles caused the ribbon-like nanostructures to have a short-range spatial order; the ordering quality of the second layer was governed by the rugged surface of the underlying layer because the valleys between the ribbon-like nanostructures allowed for further deposition of spherical micelles.

Original languageEnglish
Article number597
JournalPolymers
Volume10
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 29 May 2018

Keywords

  • Block copolymer
  • GISAXS
  • Micelle
  • Self-assembly
  • Thin film

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