Development of nanodomain and fractal morphologies in solvent annealed block copolymer thin films

Juan Peng, Yanchun Han, Wolfgang Knoll, Dong Ha Kim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

57 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have systematically studied the thin film morphologies of asymmetric polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (PS-b-PEO) diblock copolymer subjected to solvent vapors of varying selectivity for the constituent blocks. Upon a short treatment in neutral or PS-selective vapor, the film exhibited a nignly ordered array of hexagonally packed, cylindrical microdomains. In the case of PEO selective vapor annealing, such ordered cylindrical microdomains were not obtained. Instead, fractal patterns on the microscale were observed and their growth processes investigated. Furthermore, hierarchical structures could be obtained if the fractal pattern was exposed to neutral or PS selective vapor.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1422-1428
Number of pages7
JournalMacromolecular Rapid Communications
Volume28
Issue number13
DOIs
StatePublished - 2 Jul 2007

Keywords

  • Atomic force microscopy
  • Fractal patterns
  • Hierarchical nanostructures
  • PS-b-PEO block copolymers
  • Solvent annealing

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