Three-dimensionally packed nanohelical phase in chiral block copolymers.
Chirality-driven microphase-separated morphology, poly(l-lactide) (PLLA) left-handed nanohelices hexagonally packed in PS matrix, was obtained from chiral diblock copolymers, poly(styrene)-b-poly(l-lactide). This is perhaps for the first time; the helical superstructures of chiral block copolymers were generated in the bulk and self-assembled to a two-dimensionally (2D) packed lattice. Now, the analyses of block copolymer thermodynamics should be complicated by the chiral entities of constituted components. Orderly packed nanohelical channels can be obtained after hydrolysis, and this provides new opportunities for block copolymer applications in the fields of nanosciences.
Department of Chemical Engineering, National Tsing-Hua University, and Union Chemical Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan. rmho@mx.nthu.edu.tw
Rong-Ming
RM
Ho
Yeo-Wan
YW
Chiang
Chi-Chun
CC
Tsai
Chu-Chieh
CC
Lin
Bao-Tsan
BT
Ko
Bor-Han
BH
Huang