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Liu Z, Wang Z, Yin Y, Jiang R, Li B. A simulation study of the self-assembly of ABC star terpolymers confined between two parallel surfaces. SOFT MATTER 2021; 17:5336-5348. [PMID: 33950058 DOI: 10.1039/d1sm00271f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The phase behavior of ABC star terpolymers confined between two identical parallel surfaces is systematically studied using a simulated annealing method. Several phase diagrams are constructed for systems with different bulk phases or with different interfacial interaction strength ratios in the space of surface distance (D) and surface preference for different arms, or in the space of D and the arm-length ratio x. Phases, including tiling patterns [6.6.6], [8.8.4], [8.6.6; 8.6.4], [8.6.6; 8.6.4; 10.6.6; 10.6.4] and hierarchical lamellar structures of lamella + cylinders and lamella + rods, are identified both in the bulk and in the films. Our results suggest that the self-assembled structure of a phase is largely controlled by x, while an increase of the interfacial interaction strength ratio shifts the x-window for each phase to the smaller x side. The orientation of a confined phase depends on the "effective surface preference" which is a combined effect of the interfacial interaction strength ratio, the surface preference, and the entropic preference. In the case of neutral or weak "effective surface preference", phases with a perpendicular orientation are usually observed, while in the case of strong "effective surface preference" phases with a perpendicular orientation or also with outermost wetting-layers can be frequently observed under some circumstances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhiyao Liu
- School of Physics, Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials of Ministry of Education, Nankai University, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin, 300071, China.
| | - Zheng Wang
- School of Physics, Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials of Ministry of Education, Nankai University, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin, 300071, China.
| | - Yuhua Yin
- School of Physics, Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials of Ministry of Education, Nankai University, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin, 300071, China.
| | - Run Jiang
- School of Physics, Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials of Ministry of Education, Nankai University, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin, 300071, China.
| | - Baohui Li
- School of Physics, Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials of Ministry of Education, Nankai University, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin, 300071, China.
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Gupta R, Misra M, Zhang W, Mukhtyar A, Gido SP, Ribbe A, Escobedo FA, Coughlin EB. Topological Frustration as a New Parameter to Tune Morphology Revealed through Exploring the Continuum between A-B-C 3-Arm Star and Linear Triblock Polymers. Macromolecules 2021. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.1c00277] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Rohit Gupta
- Department of Polymer Science & Engineering, University of Massachusetts, 120 Governors Drive, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-4530, United States
| | - Mayank Misra
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, 120 Olin Hall, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Wenxu Zhang
- Department of Polymer Science & Engineering, University of Massachusetts, 120 Governors Drive, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-4530, United States
| | - Ankita Mukhtyar
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, 120 Olin Hall, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Samuel P. Gido
- Department of Polymer Science & Engineering, University of Massachusetts, 120 Governors Drive, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-4530, United States
| | - Alexander Ribbe
- Department of Polymer Science & Engineering, University of Massachusetts, 120 Governors Drive, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-4530, United States
| | - Fernando A. Escobedo
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, 120 Olin Hall, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - E. Bryan Coughlin
- Department of Polymer Science & Engineering, University of Massachusetts, 120 Governors Drive, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-4530, United States
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Liu M, Chen K, Li W, Wang X. Tunable helical structures formed by ABC triblock copolymers under cylindrical confinement. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2019; 21:26333-26341. [PMID: 31782439 DOI: 10.1039/c9cp04978a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Block copolymers confined in nanopores provide unique achiral systems for the formation of helical structures. With AB diblock copolymers, stable single and double helical structures are observed. Aiming to obtain more different helical structures, we replace the AB diblock copolymer with linear ABC triblock copolymers. We speculate that a core-shell superstructure is formed within the nanopore, which is composed of a C-core cylinder wrapped by B-helices within the A-shell. Accordingly, the pore surface is set to be most attractive to the majority A-block and a typical set of interaction parameters is chosen as χACN ≪ χABN = χBCN = 80 to generate the frustrated interfaces. Furthermore, the volume fraction of B-block is fixed as fB = 0.1 to form helical cylinders. A number of helical structures with strands ranging from 1 to 5 are predicted by self-consistent field theory, and in general, the number of strands decreases as the volume fraction of C-block fC increases in a given nanopore. More surprisingly, the variation of helical strand in the confined system has an opposite trend to that in the bulk, which mainly results from the constraint of the cylindrical confinement on the change of the curvature between the outer A-layer and the inner B/C-superdomain. Our work demonstrates a facile way to fabricate different helical superstructures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meijiao Liu
- Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China.
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Zhang Y, Guan T, Han G, Guo T, Zhang W. Star Block Copolymer Nanoassemblies: Block Sequence is All-Important. Macromolecules 2018. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.8b02427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Yuan Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Polymer Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
| | - Tianyun Guan
- Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Polymer Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
| | - Guang Han
- State Key Laboratory
of Special Functional Waterproof Materials, Beijing Oriental Yuhong
Waterproof Technology Co., Ltd, Beijing 100123, China
| | - Tianying Guo
- Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Polymer Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
| | - Wangqing Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Polymer Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
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Zhang Y, Cao M, Han G, Guo T, Ying T, Zhang W. Topology Affecting Block Copolymer Nanoassemblies: Linear Block Copolymers versus Star Block Copolymers under PISA Conditions. Macromolecules 2018. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.8b01121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Guang Han
- State Key Laboratory of Special Functional Waterproof Materials, Beijing Oriental Yuhong Waterproof Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing 100123, China
| | | | - Tengyuan Ying
- Institute of Semiconductor
Technology of Tianjin, Tianjin, China
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