Web Release Date: January 25,
Cylinder-Forming Triblock Terpolymer in Nanopores: A Monte Carlo Simulation Study
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Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale University of Science and Technology of China Hefei, Anhui, 230026, People's Republic of China, and Department of Polymer Science and Engineering University of Science and Technology of China Hefei, Anhui, 230026, People's Republic of China
Received: April 16, 2007
In Final Form: October 26, 2007
Abstract:
This paper systematically investigated the self-assembly of a cylinder-forming A13B3C2 triblock terpolymer confined in cylindrical nanopores using an annealing Monte Carlo simulation. When the pore wall is absolutely neutral, we observed the helix structures alternating with partial cylinder structures at the outside layer. When the pore wall attracts the shorter blocks, we observed various surface structures depending on the pore wall preference conditions; also, a general inner-layer structural transition sequence was confirmed. In addition, it was found that catenoid structures form in a broad pore diameter region when the pore wall attracts the longest block. This may be used to experimentally fabricate the long-range ordered nanostructure. The differences between this triblock terpolymer system and the cylinder-forming diblock copolymer system were compared, and it was found that the triblock system is more capable of retaining ordered structures under unfavorable confinement conditions.
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