Tuning phase structures of a symmetrical diblock copolymer with a patterned electric field

Vertical Cylinder-to-Lamella Transition in Thin Block Copolymer Films Induced by In-Plane Electric Field

Morphological transition between hexagonal and lamellar patterns in thin polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinyl pyridine) films simultaneously exposed to a strong in-plane electric field and saturated solvent vapor is studied with atomic force and scanning electron microscopy. In these conditions, standing cylinders made of 4-vinyl pyridine blocks arrange into threads up to tens of microns long along the field direction and then partially merge into standing lamellas. In the course of rearrangement, the copolymer remains strongly segregated, with the minor component domains keeping connectivity between the film surfaces. The ordering tendency becomes more pronounced if the cylinders are doped with Au nanorods, which can increase their dielectric permittivity. Non-selective chloroform vapor works particularly well, though it causes partial etching of the indium tin oxide cathode. On the contrary, 1,4-dioxane vapor selective to polystyrene matrix does not allow for any morphological changes.

Electric Field Enhances Shear Resistance of Polymer Melts via Orientational Polarization in Microstructures

In this paper, we studied the alteration of viscoelastic properties of a neat poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), induced by an applied external electric field. The rheological properties of PMMA are measured using a rotational rheometer at elevated temperatures. The electric field effect on the shear resistance of the polymer was studied by examining rheological responses under difference experimental scenarios. We find that the external electric field can remarkably enhance shear resistance and prevent flow of PMMA melt, enabling it to behave more predictably at high temperatures. Dynamic rheological analysis illustrates that the external electric field speeds up the recovery of mechanical properties of the PMMA melt after large deformations, whereas the PMMA melt exhibits thixotropic behaviors. The recovery velocity is influenced by the strength of the electric field, specifically, and is found to be proportional to the electric field strength. Our experimental characterization may provide new evidence on the tuning mechanical properties of polymer melts via controlling segmental polarization.

How antagonistic salts cause nematic ordering and behave like diblock copolymers

We present simulation results and an explanatory theory on how antagonistic salts affect the spinodal decomposition of binary fluid mixtures. We find that spinodal decomposition is arrested and complex structures form only when electrostatic ion-ion interactions are small. In this case, the fluid and ion concentrations couple and the charge field can be approximated as a polynomial function of the relative fluid concentrations alone. When the solvation energy associated with transferring an ion from one fluid phase to the other is of the order of a few k_BT, the coupled fluid and charge fields evolve according to the Ohta-Kawasaki free energy functional. This allows us to accurately predict structure sizes and reduce the parameter space to two dimensionless numbers. The lamellar structures induced by the presence of the antagonistic salt in our simulations exhibit a high degree of nematic ordering and the growth of ordered domains over time follows a power law. This power law carries a time exponent proportional to the salt concentration. We qualitatively reproduce and interpret neutron scattering data from previous experiments of similar systems. The dissolution of structures at high salt concentrations observed in these experiments agrees with our simulations, and we explain it as the result of a vanishing surface tension due to electrostatic contributions. We conclude by presenting 3D results showing the same morphologies as predicted by the Ohta-Kawasaki model as a function of volume fraction and suggesting that our findings from 2D systems remain valid in 3D.