Design Block Copolymers for Unconventional Ordered Phases

The self-assembly of block copolymers provides a powerful platform for the fabrication of ordered nanostructures. To design block copolymers for desired new ordered phases presents an interesting but challenging task. In our previous work, we have demonstrated that many prototypical structures of hard crystals can be recasted by the self-assembly of purposely designed block copolymers following some useful guiding principles. In this presentation, three block copolymers, including linear ABAB tetrablock copolymer, a nonlinear AB-type copolymer composed of AB diblock tethered by an additional A-block onto the B-block, are designed to target some unconventional ordered phases: the hybrid lamella-sphere phase, perforated-lamella phase and two-dimensional quasicrystal-like phase. The stability of these targeted phases is identified using the self-consistent field theory. In particular, their stabilization mechanisms are elucidated by analyzing the segment distributions as well as the different contributions of free energy. These successful examples further demonstrates that architecture design provides a huge space for the self-assembly block copolymers.