Tilt grain boundaries in a diblock copolymer ordered nanocomposite lamellar phase.
A hybrid self-consistent field theory/density functional theory method is applied to predict tilt (kink) grain boundary structures between lamellar domains of a symmetric diblock copolymer with added spherical nanoparticles. Structures consistent with experimental observations are found and theoretical evidence is provided in support of a hypothesis regarding the positioning of nanoparticles. Some particle distributions are predicted for situations not yet examined by experiment.
Thompson
Russell B
RB
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada. thompson@uwaterloo.ca