title: Large-Volume Self-Organization of Polymer/Nanoparticle Hybrids with Millimeter-Scale Grain Sizes Using Brush Block Copolymers.
abstract: We report that an exceptionally large volume of highly ordered arrays (single grains) on the order of millimeters in scale can be rapidly created through a unique innate guiding mechanism of brush block copolymers (BBCPs). The grain volume is over 10(9) times larger than that of typical self-assembled linear BCPs (LBCPs). The use of strong interactions between nanoparticles (NPs) and BBCPs enables high loadings of functional materials, up to 76 wt % (46 vol %) in the target domain, while maintaining excellent long-range order. Overall, this work provides a simple method to precisely control the spatial orientation of functionalities at nanometer length scales over macroscopic volumes, thereby enabling the production of hybrid materials for many important applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst , 120 Governors Drive, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, United States.
authors.forename: Dong-Po
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst , 120 Governors Drive, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, United States.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst , 120 Governors Drive, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, United States.
authors.forename: Nicholas S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Colella
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst , 160 Governors Drive, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, United States.
authors.forename: Wanting
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst , 120 Governors Drive, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, United States.
authors.forename: Shengkai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University , 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xuemin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst , 120 Governors Drive, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, United States.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gido
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst , 160 Governors Drive, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, United States.
authors.forename: Jae-Hwang
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst , 120 Governors Drive, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, United States.
authors.forename: James J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Watkins