Soft Confinement-Induced Morphologies of Diblock Copolymers

Abstract

The self-assembly of diblock copolymers under soft confinement is studied systematically using a simulated annealing method applied to a lattice model of polymers. The soft confinement is realized by the formation of polymer droplets in a poor solvent environment. Multiple sequences of soft confinement-induced copolymer aggregates with different shapes and self-assembled internal morphologies are predicted as functions of solvent-polymer interaction and the monomer concentration. It is discovered that the self-assembled internal morphology of the aggregates is largely controlled by a competition between the bulk morphology of the copolymer and the solvent-polymer interaction, and the shape of the aggregates can be non-spherical when the internal morphology is anisotropic and the solvent-polymer interaction is weak. These results demonstrate that droplets of diblock copolymers formed in poor solvents can be used as a model system to study the self-assembly of copolymers under soft confinement.

Block Copolymer Membranes for Aqueous Solution Applications

“…They could have a role in the formation of the commonly observed periodic morphology on the flat block copolymer membrane surface 113 . Other forms of complex periodic surface morphology have been predicted for 3D confinements 50,76 . Very regular structures (similar to Schwarz P and Schoen Gyroid) have been observed in porous spherical particles prepared by dispersing block copolymer solutions under stirring in large amount of non-solvent medium 63 .…”

Monodipserse Nanostructured Spheres of Block Copolymers and Nanoparticles via Cross-Flow Membrane Emulsification

“…40 Figure 2(b) shows the two shells of the helical PB cylinders with PB sphere in the core for the small particles (D/L~ 6.0) produced from the 0.5 µm membrane. The shell structure resembles that of "double helices" morphology, which was theoretically reported by Chi et al 40 In contrast, the particles from the 1.1 µm membrane in Figure 2(d) (D/L~14.1) showed hexagonally packed hoops and helices of the PB phases as the confinement effect on the BCP morphology became less dominant. [39][40][41] This structure was similar to that of "stacked hoops and circular helices" that was reported by Jeon et al, although some distortion might have occurred during the sample preparation (i.e., microtoming process).…”

Hard and soft confinement effects on the glass transition of polymers confined to nanopores

“…While the experimental results are generally global and average, the molecular dynamics simulations have the inherent advantage in investigating the local properties, and the various effects that the mobile boundary brings in can be studied in detail to find out their specific influences on the shift of T g . Moreover, the study of polymer dynamics near soft boundaries is also important to understand the self-assembly of diblock copolymers under soft confinement [37,38] and the polymer dynamics under soft confinement in a self-assembled system [39].…”