Molecules (Nov 2020)

Self-Assembly of Low-Molecular-Weight Asymmetric Linear Triblock Terpolymers: How Low Can We Go?

  • Christina Miskaki,
  • Ioannis Moutsios,
  • Gkreti-Maria Manesi,
  • Konstantinos Artopoiadis,
  • Cheng-Yen Chang,
  • Egor A. Bersenev,
  • Dimitrios Moschovas,
  • Dimitri A. Ivanov,
  • Rong-Ming Ho,
  • Apostolos Avgeropoulos

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25235527
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 25, no. 23
p. 5527

Abstract

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The synthesis of two (2) novel triblock terpolymers of the ABC type and one (1) of the BAC type, where A, B and C are chemically different segments, such as polystyrene (PS), poly(butadiene) (PB1,4) and poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS), is reported; moreover, their corresponding molecular and bulk characterizations were performed. Very low dimensions are evident from the characterization in bulk from transmission electron microscopy studies, verified by small-angle X-ray data, since sub-16 nm domains are evident in all three cases. The self-assembly results justify the assumptions that the high Flory–Huggins parameter, χ, even in low molecular weights, leads to significantly well-ordered structures, despite the complexity of the systems studied. Furthermore, it is the first time that a structure/properties relationship was studied for such systems in bulk, potentially leading to prominent applications in nanotechnology and nanopatterning, for as low as sub-10 nm thin-film manipulations.

Keywords