|
|||||
|
|
Tunable Self-Assembly of Diblock Copolymers into Colloidal Particles with Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces |
|
| Authors: | Zhixing Lin Dr. Shaohua Liu Wenting Mao Hao Tian Nan Wang Ninghe Zhang Dr. Feng Tian Prof. Lu Han Prof. Xinliang Feng Prof. Yiyong Mai |
| Affiliation: | 1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Thermal Ageing, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240 China These authors contributed equally to this work.;2. State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200241 China These authors contributed equally to this work.;3. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Thermal Ageing, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240 China;4. Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai, 201204 China;5. Department of Chemistry and Food Chemistry, Technische Universität Dresden, Mommsenstrasse 4, 01062 Dresden, Germany |
| Abstract: | We herein report the tunable self-assembly of simple block copolymers, namely polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (PS-b-PEO) diblock copolymers, into porous cubosomes with inverse  or  mesophases of controlled unit cell parameters as well as hexasomes with an inverse hexagonal (p6mm) structure, which have been rarely observed in polymer self-assembly. A new morphological phase diagram was constructed for the solution self-assembly of PS-b-PEO based on the volume fraction of the PS block against the initial copolymer concentration. The formation mechanisms of the cubosomes and hexasomes have also been revealed. This study not only affords a simple system for the controllable preparation and fundamental studies of ordered bicontinuous structures, but also opens up a new avenue towards porous architectures with highly ordered pores. |
| Keywords: | block copolymers colloidal particles inverse mesophases phase diagrams self-assembly |