Liquid-crystalline ordering in rod-coil diblock copolymers studied by mesoscale simulations.
Using mesoscale dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations, which ignore all atomistic details, we show the formation of lamella mesophases by cooling a fully disordered system composed of symmetric (A7B7) rod-coil diblock copolymers. Equilibration is achieved very rapidly using DPD, and isotropic, smectic A and crystalline phases of the rod-like blocks can be observed either by heating or cooling. An interesting pseudo-smectic phase can be characterized when the order-disorder transition temperature is above the clearing temperature. This phase gradually fades into a normal microphase-separated structure as the system is heated through the clearing temperature. Simulations of pure rods, however, show the formation of isotropic, nematic, smectic A and crystalline phases.
Department of Physics, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia. asunaidi@kfupm.edu.sa
A
A
AlSunaidi
W K
WK
Den Otter
J H R
JH
Clarke