title: Molecular-Curvature-Induced Spontaneous Formation of Curved and Concentric Lamellae through Nucleation.
abstract: Spontaneous formation of concentric lamellae was observed in self-assembling giant surfactants consisting of a fluorinated polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (FPOSS) head and flexible polymer tail(s). Owing to the asymmetrical sizes of the head and tail blocks and the rectangular molecular interface, the giant surfactants assumed a truncated-wedge-like molecular shape, which induced morphological curvature during self-assembly, thus resulting in the formation of curved and concentric lamellae. These curved/concentric lamellae were observed in FPOSS-based giant surfactants with different architectures and compositions. The spontaneous curvature formation not only promotes our fundamental understanding of assembly principles, but also provides a promising and efficient approach to the fabrication of a wide range of high-performance devices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Science, University of Akron, Akron, OH, 44325, USA.
authors.forename: Xue-Hui
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Science, University of Akron, Akron, OH, 44325, USA.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ni
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Science, University of Akron, Akron, OH, 44325, USA.
authors.forename: Mingjun
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Science, University of Akron, Akron, OH, 44325, USA.
authors.forename: Chih-Hao
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Science, University of Akron, Akron, OH, 44325, USA.
authors.forename: Ruobing
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Science, University of Akron, Akron, OH, 44325, USA. wenbin@pku.edu.cn.|Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of the Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China. wenbin@pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Wen-Bin
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4M1, Canada. shi@mcmaster.ca.
authors.forename: An-Chang
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Science, University of Akron, Akron, OH, 44325, USA. scheng@uakron.edu.
authors.forename: Stephen Z D
authors.initials: SZ
authors.lastname: Cheng
keywords: concentric lamellae; curvature; giant surfactants; polymers; self-assembly