Issue 1, 2010
From the journal:

Journal of Materials Chemistry

Surface-independent vertical orientation of cylindrical microdomains in block copolymer thin films directed by comb-coil architecture

Myungeun Seo,a   Seonhee Shin,a   Sejin Ku,a   Sangwoo Jin,b   Jin-Baek Kim,a   Moonhor Reeb  and  Sang Youl Kim*a  

* Corresponding authors

a Department of Chemistry, KAIST, Gwahangno 335, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Korea
E-mail: kimsy@kaist.ac.kr
Fax: (+82) 42-350-8177

b Department of Chemistry, Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, National Research Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis and Physics, Center for Electro-Photo Behaviors in Advanced Molecular Systems, Division of Advanced Materials Science, Polymer Research Institute, and BK School of Molecular Science, Pohang University of Science & Technology, Pohang, Korea

Abstract

Vertically oriented cylindrical microdomains of block copolymer thin films consisting of polystyrene and poly(methyl methacrylate) were fabricated regardless of the substrate by introduction of a grafted architecture into the diblock copolymer chains. A series of comb-coil block copolymers, poly(methyl methacrylate)-b-poly(2-(2-bromopropionyloxy)-ethyl acrylate)-g-polystyrene (PMMA-b-PBPEA-g-PS) with various lengths of PS were synthesized by combination of reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). When the volume fraction of PS was 75%, microphase separation produced cylindrical microdomains of PMMA surrounded by PS matrix in a thin film state after thermal annealing. Analysis of the thin films after subsequent etching of PMMA domains by atomic force microscopy, cross-sectional scanning electron microscope images and grazing incidence X-ray scattering measurements showed that the microdomains were oriented perpendicular to various substrates including metals, silicon, polymers, and even patterned surfaces. Steric repulsion between the grafted chains during the phase separation was attributed to the driving force for perpendicular orientation of the cylindrical microdomains without the aid of external fields.

Graphical abstract: Surface-independent vertical orientation of cylindrical microdomains in block copolymer thin films directed by comb-coil architecture

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/B914941D
Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 Jul 2009
Accepted
14 Sep 2009
First published
07 Oct 2009

J. Mater. Chem., 2010,20, 94-102

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Surface-independent vertical orientation of cylindrical microdomains in block copolymer thin films directed by comb-coil architecture

M. Seo, S. Shin, S. Ku, S. Jin, J. Kim, M. Ree and S. Y. Kim, J. Mater. Chem., 2010, 20, 94 DOI: 10.1039/B914941D

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