Confined Self-Assemblies of Chiral Block Copolymers in Thin Films

作者：Yuan, Jun; Liu, Xiang; Wang, Yingying; Zeng, Guangjian; Li, Gang; Dong, Xue-Hui; Wen, Tao^*

来源：ACS Macro Letters, 2021, 10(10): 1300-1305.

DOI：10.1021/acsmacrolett.1c00458

• DIBLOCK COPOLYMERS
• PHASE
• ORIENTATION
• MICROSTRUCTURES
• MELTS

Self-assembly of chiral block copolymers (BCPs*) can give rise to ordered chiral nanostructures, that is, a helical phase (H* phase), via chirality transfer from the molecular level to mesoscale. In the present work, we reported the self-assembly of BCPs* under one-dimensional spatial confinement. The morphological dependence of self-assembled BCPs* on the molecular weights and the film thickness was investigated. As chiral nanostructures, the H* phase can be formed in bulk, nonchiral nanostructures that were observed in the thin films. Also, the topology effect of self-assembly of BCPs* was examined. The self-assembly of BCPs* with a star-shaped topology exhibited a distinct morphology compared with that of linear BCPs*. The present work provides new insight into the chirality transfer of macromolecules under spatial confinement.