RESUMEN
Vesicles are a highly attractive morphology to achieve in micellar dispersions of block copolymers (BCP) in epoxy thermosets due to the fact that small amounts can affect a large volume fraction of the matrix, a fact that is important for toughening purposes. However, generating vesicles in epoxy matrices requires operating in a narrow range of formulations and processing conditions. In this report, we show that block-copolymer vesicles dispersed in an epoxy matrix could be obtained through a sphere-to-cylinder-to-vesicle micellar transition induced by visible-light photopolymerization at room temperature. A 10 wt% colloidal solution of poly(ethylene-co-butene)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (PEB-b-PEO) block copolymer (BCP) in an epoxy monomer (DGEBA) self-assembled into spherical micelles as shown by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). During a slow photopolymerization of the epoxy monomer carried out at room temperature, a sphere-to-cylinder-to-vesicle transition took place as revealed by in situ SAXS and TEM images. This was driven by the tendency of the system to reduce the local interfacial curvature as a response to a decrease in the miscibility of PEO blocks in the polymerizing epoxy matrix. When the BCP concentration was increased from 10 to 20 and 40 wt%, the final structure evolved from bilayer vesicles to multilayer vesicles and to lamellae, respectively. In particular, for 20 wt% PEB-b-PEO, transient structures such as partially fused multilayered vesicles were observed by TEM, giving insight into the growth mechanism of multilayer vesicles. On the contrary, when a relatively fast thermal polymerization was performed at 80 °C, the final morphology consisted of kinetically trapped spherical and cylindrical micelles. Hopefully, this study will lead to new protocols for the preparation of vesicles dispersed in epoxy matrices in a controlled way.
RESUMEN
Polystyrene-b-polymethylmethacrylate (PS-b-PMMA) was selected as the host for 4-(4-nitrophenylazo)aniline (Disperse Orange 3, DO3) based on a previous study of DO3/PMMA and DO3/PS binary blends. Selective location of DO3 into the PMMA block of the copolymer was expected during self-assembly of the block copolymer since a preferential interaction of DO3 with PMMA has been demonstrated. However, surface segregation of DO3 was found during the thermal annealing used to nanostructure the copolymer. To avoid this, a thermoplastic polymer (Azo-TP) was synthesized from the bulk reaction of DO3 and diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA). The choice of DGEBA as a co-reactant was an attempt to encourage the selective location of azo groups in the PMMA phase of PS-b-PMMA. An inspection of solutions of Azo-TP in PS and PMMA, corroborates the preferential affinity of Azo-TP for PMMA. The Azo-TP could be satisfactorily dissolved in PS-b-PMMA. We have investigated the growth and decay processes of the optically induced birefringence in films of PS-b-PMMA containing 12 wt% Azo-TP. The resulting materials showed a good photoinduced time response, high maximum birefringence and an elevated fraction of remnant anisotropy.
RESUMEN
The self-assembly of block-copolymer thin films in periodic nanostructures has received considerable attention during the last decade due to their potential applications in nanofabrication and nanolithography. We followed the morphologies developed in thin films of a cylinder-forming diblock copolymer polystyrene-b-poly(methylmethacrylate) ((PS-b-PMMA), PS 46.1 kg mol( - 1), PMMA 21.0 kg mol( - 1), lattice spacing L(0) = 36 nm), as a function of the film thickness (t), analyzing the effect of thickness commensurability on domain orientation in respect to the substrate. The study was circumscribed to the unexplored range of thickness below L(0). Two thickness windows with perpendicular orientation of the PMMA domains were identified: a well-known window at t approximately L(0) and a new window at t approximately L(0)/2. A half-parallel cylinder morphology was observed for [Formula: see text] with a progressive change in morphology [Formula: see text] when thickness increases from L(0)/2 to L(0). This experimental evidence provides new insights on the mechanism of block copolymers self-organization and indicates the possibility to tune the thickness of the nanostructured polymeric film below L(0), allowing the fabrication of ultrathin soft masks for advanced lithographic processes.