Cylindrical-confinement-induced phase behaviours of diblock copolymer melts

Abstract

The phase behaviours of diblock copolymers under cylindrical confinement are studied in two-dimensional space by using the self-consistent field theory. Several phase parameters are adjusted to investigate the cylindrical-confinementinduced phase behaviours of diblock copolymers. A series of lamella-cylinder mixture phases, such as the mixture of broken-lamellae and cylinders and the mixture of square-lamellae and cylinders, are observed by varying the phase parameters, in which the behaviours of these mixture phases are discussed in the corresponding phase diagrams. Furthermore, the free energies of these mixture phases are investigated to illustrate their evolution processes. Our results are compared with the available observations from the experiments and simulations respectively, and they are in good agreement and provide an insight into the phase behaviours under cylindrical confinement.

Simulations of shear-induced morphological transitions in block copolymers

“…The cases of shapes with long axes (lamellae [36][37][38][39][40] and cylinders [41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49] ) may each be of interest in the patterning of nanowires, while spheres and upright cylinders [50][51][52][53] have potential applications in the patterning of hexagonal arrays for data storage. Most recently, the phase segregation in geometries other than planar lms has been studied as well; these systems comprise, amongst others, square-pillar arrays, 54 nanorod arrays, 55 nanopores, [56][57][58][59] and spherical shell connements. 60 For all these cases, shear ow plays an important role as a means for aligning the microscopic domains.…”