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.
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada. thompson@uwaterloo.ca
Russell B
RB
Thompson