On the influence of temperature and volume fraction on liquid crystalline block copolymer nanoscale architectures

ORAL

Abstract

Liquid crystalline block copolymers (LCBCs) form complex hierarchical structures. We report the phase structures of a series of poly(styrene-\textit{block}-(2,5-bis-(4-methoxyphenyl)oxycarbonyl)styrene) (PS-b-PMPCS) rod-coil diblock copolymers based on the results obtained from thermal analysis, x-ray analysis and transmission electron microscopy. The PS-b-PMPCS system formed lamellar structures of alternating PS and PMPCS domains. Each PMPCS domain contained a bilayered rod-like structure whose axis is parallel to the lamellar normal. In low MW BCs, a S$_{Ad}$-like interdigitated metastable phase was observed which changed into a bilayered structure upon heating. As the PS content increased, the LC layer was gradually punctuated by PS and a perforated layer structure was observed. The ``degree of perforation'' depends on the LC volume fraction.

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Authors

  • Kishore Tenneti

  • Christopher Li

    • Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104
    • Department of Materials Science \& Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104

  • Yingfeng Tu

  • Xinhua Wan

  • Qu-Feng Zhou

    • Department of Polymer Science, Peking University, P. R. China

  • Carlos Avila-Orta

  • Benjamin Hsiao

    • Department of Chemistry, SUNY at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11794