title: Influence of Grafting Point Distribution on the Surface Structures of Y-Shaped Polymer Brushes in Solution.
abstract: We report a simulated annealing study of surface structures of the Y-shaped copolymers grafted onto a planar substrate in nonselective solvents. The influences of the lateral size of the grafting surface and the distribution manner of the grafting point on the order degree of the ripple structures are investigated. Under uniformly distribution conditions, it is found that the well-defined ripple structures can be formed when the lateral size less than a threshold which depends on the solvent quality and grafting density. However, introducing a density fluctuation into the uniformly distribution grafting points in different ways, the defects with different degrees are observed in the ripple structures. The influence of the density fluctuations on the ripple phase are studied quantitatively. Furthermore, the possibility of the formation of surface structures with long-range order induced by directed self-assembly is investigated. The findings provide guidelines for fabricating patterned surfaces with highly ordered structures.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Nankai University , Tianjin 300071, China.
authors.forename: Yuhua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Nankai University , Tianjin 300071, China.
authors.forename: Run
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Nankai University , Tianjin 300071, China.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Nankai University , Tianjin 300071, China.
authors.forename: Baohui
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University , Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M1, Canada.
authors.forename: An-Chang
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Shi