title: Morphology and molecular bridging in comb- and star-shaped diblock copolymers.
abstract: Block copolymers spontaneously self-assemble into nanostructured morphologies with industrially attractive properties; however, the relationships between polymer architecture and self-assembled morphology are difficult to tailor for copolymers with increased conformational restrictions. Using Dissipative Particle Dynamics, the self-assembled morphology of comb- and star-shaped diblock copolymers was simulated as a function of the number of arms, arm length, weight fraction, and A-B incompatibility. As the number of arms on the star, or grafting points for the comb, was increased from three to four to six, the ability to self-assemble into ordered morphologies was restricted. The molecular bridging between adjacent ordered domains was observed for both comb- and star-shaped copolymers, which was found to be enhanced with increasing number of arms. This study illustrates that comb- and star-shaped copolymers are viable alternatives for applications that would benefit from highly bridged nanostructural domains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Kyle E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Hart
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Lauren J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Abbott
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Aerosols Chemistry and Physics, Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals of the ASCR, v. v. i., Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lísal
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Coray M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Colina