A well-ordered mesoporous
polyimide film was fabricated by a soft-template
method using a microphase-separated structure of an amphiphilic block
copolymer (BCP) as a template. Poly(amic acid)s (PAAs) as polyimide
precursors and resol as a cross-linker for the stabilization of the
nanostructure were found to be selectively miscible with the hydrophilic
domain of the template BCP. Their mixture coassembled and formed the
desired ordered nanostructures. The composite films tended to form
well-ordered nanostructures when PAAs with a flexible domain such
as ether or methylene were used. Mesoporous polyimide films were obtained
on thermal treatment of the composite films formed via the sequential
processes of cross-linking of the resol, imidization of the PAAs,
and selective decomposition of the template BCPs. A polyimide film
with well-ordered hexagonal-packed cylindrical mesopores was successfully
fabricated after the thermal treatment of the composite film based
on PAA/polystyrene-block-poly(methacrylic acid)/resol.
The domain spacing based on small-angle X-ray scattering was 29.4
nm, and the pore diameter was determined by scanning electron microscopy
to be ∼19 nm.
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