Unique Phase Behavior of Inverse Tapered Block Copolymers: Self-Consistent Field Theory and Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Brown, Jonathan R.; Seo, Youngmi; Sides, Scott W.; Hall, Lisa M.

doi:10.1021/acs.macromol.7b00522

Unique Phase Behavior of Inverse Tapered Block Copolymers: Self-Consistent Field Theory and Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Journal Article · Mon Jul 10 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Macromolecules

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.7b00522· OSTI ID:1468587

^[1]; Seo, Youngmi ^[2]; Sides, Scott W. ^[3]; ^[2]

The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States). William G. Lowrie Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; The Ohio State University
The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States). William G. Lowrie Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Tech-X Corp., Boulder, CO (United States)

Using theory and simulation, we study the microphase separated structures of inverse tapered block copolymers. These are AB block copolymers with a gradient region inserted between the pure A and B blocks that smoothly changes in composition from B to A, with the B-side of the taper bonded to the pure A block. Tapering is a means to increase miscibility between polymer blocks, and by controlling the length of the taper, the phase behavior and domain spacing can be adjusted. As opposed to better known ABAB tetrablock copolymers that also have four alternating A-rich and B-rich regions, here the intermediate region has a partially mixed composition, promoting relatively diblock-like behavior for shorter inverse tapers or low segregation strength but unique behavior as a function of increasing segregation strength for some systems. In particular, for systems in which 50% of the backbone is the taper, the larger of the two pure end blocks - composed of the overall majority component - can phase separate analogously to the minority component of a diblock copolymer, creating cylinder and network phases in which the majority component’s pure block is the minority phase in a matrix of a relatively disordered mixture of the tapered region and the minority component’s pure block.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0014209; SC0014458

OSTI ID:: 1468587

Journal Information:: Macromolecules, Journal Name: Macromolecules Journal Issue: 14 Vol. 50; ISSN 0024-9297

Publisher:: American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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