Origins of low-symmetry phases in asymmetric diblock copolymer melts.

ABSTRACT: Cooling disordered compositionally asymmetric diblock copolymers leads to the formation of nearly spherical particles, each containing hundreds of molecules, which crystallize upon cooling below the order-disorder transition temperature (T_ODT). Self-consistent field theory (SCFT) reveals that dispersity in the block degrees of polymerization stabilizes various Frank-Kasper phases, including the C14 and C15 Laves phases, which have been accessed experimentally in low-molar-mass poly(isoprene)-b-poly(lactide) (PI-PLA) diblock copolymers using thermal processing strategies. Heating and cooling a specimen containing 15% PLA above and below the T_ODT from the body-centered cubic (BCC) or C14 states regenerates the same crystalline order established at l

SUBMITTER: Kim K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5798371 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature