External electric fields readily align birefringent block-copolymer mesophases. In this study the effect of gold nanoparticles on the electric-field-induced alignment of a lamellae-forming polystyrene-block-poly(2-vinylpyridine) copolymer is assessed. Nanoparticles are homogeneously dispersed in the styrenic phase and promote the quantitative alignment of lamellar domains by substantially lowering the critical field strength above which alignment proceeds. The results suggest that the electric-field-assisted alignment of nanostructured block copolymer/nanoparticle composites may offer a simple way to greatly mitigate structural and orientational defects of such films under benign experimental conditions.

We investigate the kinetics of block copolymer/nanoparticle composite alignment in an electric field using in situ transmission small-angle X-ray scattering. As a model system, we employ a lamellae forming polystyrene-block-poly(2-vinyl pyridine) block copolymer with different contents of gold nanoparticles in thick films under solvent vapor annealing. While the alignment improves with increasing nanoparticle fraction, the kinetics slows down. This is explained by changes in the degree of phase separation and viscosity. Our findings provide extended insights into the basics of nanocomposite alignment.

It is demonstrated that the orientation of striped patterns can be reversibly switched between two perpendicular in-plane orientations upon exposure to electric fields. The results on thin films of symmetric polystyrene-block-poly(2-vinyl pyridine) polymer in the intermediate segregation regime disclose two types of reorientation mechanisms from perpendicular to parallel relative to the electric field orientation. Domains orient via grain rotation and via formation of defects such as stretched undulations and temporal phase transitions. The contribution of additional fields to the structural evolution is also addressed to elucidate the generality of the observed phenomena. In particular solvent effects are considered. This study reveals the stabilization of the meta-stable in-plane oriented lamella due to sequential swelling and quenching of the film. Further, the reorientation behavior of lamella domains blended with selective nanoparticles is addressed, which affect the interfacial tensions of the blocks and hence introduce another internal field to the studied system. Switching the orientation of aligned block copolymer patterns between two orthogonal directions may open new applications of nanomaterials as switchable electric nanowires or optical gratings.