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Unique self-assembly behaviors of ABCA tetrablock copolymer

ORAL

Abstract

The self-assembly behavior of linear ABCA tetrablock copolymers is investigated using self-consistent field theory (SCFT). Although the general mechanism of block copolymer self-assembly has been well established, the self-assembly behaviors of some block copolymers are still hard to be understood and are even quite counterintuitive. Here we focus on the self-assembly of symmetric ABCA linear tetrablock copolymer. Our results indicate that the Janus-like superspherical phase can exist stably when the Flory-Huggins interaction between B and C blocks is much larger than the other two interactions. Moreover, a helical-Janus spherical phase is predicted to compete with the Janus phase. Meanwhile, the Janus-like supercylinder is predicted to be only metastable, and instead supercylinders composed of B/C-helices and B/C-stacked-disks are predicted to be stable. The stability of these novel structures is mainly dictated by the competition between the stretching energy and interfacial energy.

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Presenters

  • Qiong Xie

    Department of Macromolecular Science, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

Authors

  • Qiong Xie

    Department of Macromolecular Science, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

  • Wei-hua Li

    Department of Macromolecular Science, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Fudan University, Macromolecular Science, Fudan Univ, Department of Macromolecular Science, Fudan University, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Department of Macromolecular Science, Fudan Univ, Shanghai, China, Department of Macromolecular Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, Department of Macromolecular Science, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.