Determination of Globally Stable Block Copolymer Phases Using Particle Swarm Optimization

ORAL

Abstract

The unguided search for the stable phase of a block copolymer of a given composition and architecture is a problem of global optimization with important ramifications from a materials discovery perspective. In this talk, we discuss the development of a reciprocal-space Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)-SCFT method in which we manipulate the Fourier components of SCFT fields near the principal shell. Effectively, the PSO facilitates the search through a space of reciprocal-space SCFT seeds which yield a variety of morphologies. We present results for applying PSO-SCFT to conformationally symmetric and asymmetric diblock copolymers, and discuss the successes and challenges of the method.

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Presenters

  • Carol Tsai

    • Univ of California - Santa Barbara

Authors

  • Carol Tsai

    • Univ of California - Santa Barbara

  • Kris Delaney

    • Univ of California - Santa Barbara
    • UC Santa Barbara
    • Materials Research Laboratory, Univ of California - Santa Barbara
    • Materials Research Laboratory, University of California
    • University of California - Santa Barbara
    • Materials Research Laboratory and Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials, University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Glenn Fredrickson

    • Univ of California - Santa Barbara
    • UC Santa Barbara
    • Materials Research Laboratory, UC Santa Barbara
    • Chemical Engineering, Univ of California - Santa Barbara
    • Chemical Engineering, Materials, and Materials Research Laboratory, University of California
    • University of California - Santa Barbara
    • Materials Research Laboratory and Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials, University of California, Santa Barbara