Self-assemblies of block copolymers in different environments

PMSE 96

Stephen Z. D. Cheng1, Joseph X. Zheng1, Ryan Van Horn, rmv4@uakron.edu1, Huiming Xiong1, Roderic P. Quirk1, and Bernard Lotz2. (1) The Maurice Morton Institute and Department of Polymer Science, The University of Akron, 170 University Avenue, Akron, OH 44325, (2) Institute Charles Sadron, 6 Rue Boussingault, Strasbourg, France

Crystalline-amorphous diblock copolymer systems were used as templates to generate tethered blocks on single crystal surfaces. These systems had PEO or PLLA crystalline blocks with various amorphous blocks including PS, PB, or PMMA to explore various system interactions. Controlled and tunable reduced tethering density defined by (sigma)(pi)Rg2 (where sigma is the tethered chain density), could be achieved in a broad range by changing the molecular weights (MW's) of the crystalline and amorphous blocks and by varying the crystallization temperature (Tx) of dilute solutions.  The reduced tethering density of the tethered chains on the crystal surface increased with increasing Tx because at a fixed MW of the PEO or PLLA block, an increase in the lamellar thickness (dCRYST) was evidence of a decrease in the number of folds.  Plots of 1/dCRYST vs. Tx for these diblock copolymers provide evidence of the interaction transitions in tethered polymer chains.