Morphological Characterization of Well-Ordered Nanonetwork Materials via Real- and Reciprocal- Space Imaging

The morphological evolution of network phases from templated electroless plating using block copolymer as a template was investigated as an exemplary system for the characterization of developing complex gyroid and diamond phases from self-assembly. By taking advantage of the nucleation and growth mechanism of templated electroless plating, network-structured Au could be successfully fabricated through the development of Au nanoparticle, tripod/tetrapod and branched tripods/tetrapods, finally network structure. Hence, the morphological evolution of each stage could be examined by combining real-space observation of transmission electron microscopy with reciprocal-space investigation using small-angle X-ray scattering. A simple approach for the fitting of the scattering results was established at which the fingerprint scattering profiles of the building block for network phases were fitted with the form factor of sphere (i.e., the nanoparticle) and the diffraction results of final morphology (i.e., the network phases) could be well addressed by combined scattering of the form and structure factors, revealing the difference between the curvatures of gyroid and diamond phases from self-assembly.