Nanoscale Resolution of Electric-field Induced Motion in Ionic Diblock Copolymer Thin Films

Dugger, Jason W.; Li, Wei; Chen, Mingtao; Long, Timothy E.; Welbourn, Rebecca J. L.; Skoda, Maximilian W. A.; Browning, James F.; Kumar, Rajeev; Lokitz, Bradley S.

doi:10.1021/acsami.8b11220

Title: Nanoscale Resolution of Electric-field Induced Motion in Ionic Diblock Copolymer Thin Films

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Abstract

Understanding the responses of ionic block copolymers to applied electric fields is crucial when targeting applications in areas such as energy storage, microelectronics, and transducers. This work shows that the identity of counterions in ionic diblock copolymers substantially affects their responses to electric fields, demonstrating the importance of ionic species for materials design. In situ neutron reflectometry measurements revealed that thin films containing imidazolium based cationic diblock copolymers, tetrafluoroborate counteranions led to film contraction under applied electric fields, while bromide counteranions drove expansion under similar field strengths. Coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations were used to develop a fundamental understanding of these responses, uncovering a nonmonotonic trend in thickness change as a function of field strength. Furthermore, this behavior was attributed to elastic responses of microphase separated diblock copolymer chains resulting from variations in interfacial tension of polymer–polymer interfaces due to the redistribution of counteranions in the presence of electric fields.

Authors:

^[1]; Li, Wei ^[1]; Chen, Mingtao ^[2];

^[2];

^[3]; Skoda, Maximilian W. A. ^[3];

^[1];

^[1]

Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot (United Kingdom)

Publication Date:: 2018-09-04

Research Org.:: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

OSTI Identifier:: 1513410

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 10; Journal Issue: 38; Journal ID: ISSN 1944-8244

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; electric field; interfacial tension; ionic block copolymer; molecular dynamics; neutron reflectometry

Citation Formats


                    Dugger, Jason W., Li, Wei, Chen, Mingtao, Long, Timothy E., Welbourn, Rebecca J. L., Skoda, Maximilian W. A., Browning, James F., Kumar, Rajeev, and Lokitz, Bradley S. Nanoscale Resolution of Electric-field Induced Motion in Ionic Diblock Copolymer Thin Films.  United States: N. p., 2018. 
Web.  doi:10.1021/acsami.8b11220.

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                    Dugger, Jason W., Li, Wei, Chen, Mingtao, Long, Timothy E., Welbourn, Rebecca J. L., Skoda, Maximilian W. A., Browning, James F., Kumar, Rajeev, & Lokitz, Bradley S. Nanoscale Resolution of Electric-field Induced Motion in Ionic Diblock Copolymer Thin Films.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.8b11220

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                    Dugger, Jason W., Li, Wei, Chen, Mingtao, Long, Timothy E., Welbourn, Rebecca J. L., Skoda, Maximilian W. A., Browning, James F., Kumar, Rajeev, and Lokitz, Bradley S. Tue .  
"Nanoscale Resolution of Electric-field Induced Motion in Ionic Diblock Copolymer Thin Films".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.8b11220.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1513410.

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@article{osti_1513410,

  title        = {Nanoscale Resolution of Electric-field Induced Motion in Ionic Diblock Copolymer Thin Films},

  author       = {Dugger, Jason W. and Li, Wei and Chen, Mingtao and Long, Timothy E. and Welbourn, Rebecca J. L. and Skoda, Maximilian W. A. and Browning, James F. and Kumar, Rajeev and Lokitz, Bradley S.},

  abstractNote = {Understanding the responses of ionic block copolymers to applied electric fields is crucial when targeting applications in areas such as energy storage, microelectronics, and transducers. This work shows that the identity of counterions in ionic diblock copolymers substantially affects their responses to electric fields, demonstrating the importance of ionic species for materials design. In situ neutron reflectometry measurements revealed that thin films containing imidazolium based cationic diblock copolymers, tetrafluoroborate counteranions led to film contraction under applied electric fields, while bromide counteranions drove expansion under similar field strengths. Coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations were used to develop a fundamental understanding of these responses, uncovering a nonmonotonic trend in thickness change as a function of field strength. Furthermore, this behavior was attributed to elastic responses of microphase separated diblock copolymer chains resulting from variations in interfacial tension of polymer–polymer interfaces due to the redistribution of counteranions in the presence of electric fields.},

  doi          = {10.1021/acsami.8b11220},

  journal      = {ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces},

  number       = 38,

  volume       = 10,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2018},

  month        = {9}

}

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