title: Electric field induced selective disordering in lamellar block copolymers.
abstract: External electric fields align nanostructured block copolymers by either rotation of grains or nucleation and growth depending on how strongly the chemically distinct block copolymer components are segregated. In close vicinity to the order-disorder transition, theory and simulations suggest a third mechanism: selective disordering. We present a time-resolved small-angle X-ray scattering study that demonstrates how an electric field can indeed selectively disintegrate ill-aligned lamellae in a lyotropic block copolymer solution, while lamellae with interfaces oriented parallel to the applied field prevail. The present study adds an additional mechanism to the experimentally corroborated suite of mechanistic pathways, by which nanostructured block copolymers can align with an electric field. Our results further unveil the benefit of electric field assisted annealing for mitigating orientational disorder and topological defects in block copolymer mesophases, both in close vicinity to the order-disorder transition and well below it.
authors.affiliation: Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ruppel
authors.forename: Christian W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Pester
authors.forename: Karol M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Langner
authors.forename: Geert J A
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Sevink
authors.forename: Heiko G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Schoberth
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Volker S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Urban
authors.forename: Jimmy W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Mays
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Böker
mesh_terms: D004560:Electricity; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D011789:Quantum Theory; D012399:Rotation; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers