Rectangular Centered Cylinders-in-Undulating-Lamellae from ABC Bottlebrush Block Terpolymers

ORAL

Abstract

Bottlebrush block polymers with side chains densely grafted on a backbone have attracted extensive attention mainly due to the large self-assembled domain spacings (several hundred nanometers) never achieved with linear block polymers (usually d < 50 nm). However, the ordered morphologies in diblock bottlebrushes have been limited to lamellar and cylindrical phases. Motivated by our previous work where a core-shell gyroid network was experimentally found in ABC bottlebrush block terpolymers, we investigated the morphologies of two ABC bottlebrushes, poly(ethylene-alt-propylene)-b-polystyrene-b-poly(DL-lactic acid) (PEP-PS-PLA) and PEP-b-PS-b-poly(ethylene oxide) (PEP-PS-PEO) synthesized by ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP). An unprecedented rectangular centered cylinders-in-undulating-lamellae (RCCUL, space group c2mm) was found in both systems at a compositional region where an orthorhombic Fddd single network occurred in linear ABC counterparts. The RCCUL unit cell parameters can be adjusted over a considerable range, with the b/a value spanning 1 to √3. This study demonstrates that stiff bottlebrush architectures can spawn new materials with attractive morphologies and properties.

* This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the University of Minnesota MRSEC under Award DMR-2011401. Parts of this work were carried out in the Characterization Facility, University of Minnesota, which receives partial support from NSF through the MRSEC program. Synchrotron SAXS experiments were performed at the 5-ID-D beamlines of the Advanced Photon Source (APS). This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under contract no. DE-AC02-06CH11357.

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Publication: Shuquan Cui, Elizabeth A. Murphy, Wei Zhang, Aristotelis Zografos, Liyang Shen, Frank S. Bates, Timothy P. Lodge, Rectangular Centered Cylinders-in-Undulating-Lamellae from ABC Bottlebrush Block Terpolymers, in preparation

Presenters

  • Shuquan Cui

    University of Minnesota

Authors

  • Shuquan Cui

    University of Minnesota

  • Elizabeth A Murphy

    University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Wei Zhang

    University of Minnesota

  • Aristotelis Zografos

    University of Minnesota

  • Liyang Shen

    University of Minnesota

  • Frank S Bates

    University of Minnesota

  • Timothy P Lodge

    University of Minnesota