Directed self-assembly of block copolymers: a tutorial review of strategies for enabling nanotechnology with soft matter

Hu, Hanqiong; Gopinadhan, Manesh; Osuji, Chinedum O.

doi:10.1039/c3sm52607k

Cited by 362 publications

(378 citation statements)

References 244 publications

(253 reference statements)

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“…[101] To gain deeper knowledge on the fundamental science of phase separation of block copolymers, and how to direct the self-assembly process, the reader is referred to other review articles. [102,103] It is apparent that block copolymer films offer a vast potential for designing nanostructured surfaces and devices. Their applications as protein nanoarrays are particularly compelling, wherein ultrahigh-density protein arrays may permit a much lower volume assay than existing microarrays and have the potential to contribute to large-scale protein screening.…”

Section: Block Copolymersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Controlling Protein Adsorption through Nanostructured Polymeric Surfaces

Firkowska‐Boden

Zhang

Jandt

2017

Adv Healthcare Materials

105

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The initial host response to healthcare materials' surfaces after implantation is the adsorption of proteins from blood and interstitial fluids. This adsorbed protein layer modulates the biological/cellular responses to healthcare materials. This stresses the significance of the surface protein assembly for the biocompatibility and functionality of biomaterials and necessitates a profound fundamental understanding of the capability to control protein–surface interactions. This review, therefore, addresses this by systematically analyzing and discussing strategies to control protein adsorption on polymeric healthcare materials through the introduction of specific surface nanostructures. Relevant proteins, healthcare materials' surface properties, clinical applications of polymer healthcare materials, fabrication methods for nanostructured polymer surfaces, amorphous, semicrystalline and block copolymers are considered with a special emphasis on the topographical control of protein adsorption. The review shows that nanostructured polymer surfaces are powerful tools to control the amount, orientation, and order of adsorbed protein layers. It also shows that the understanding of the biological responses to such ordered protein adsorption is still in its infancy, yet it has immense potential for future healthcare materials. The review, which is—as far as it is known—the first one discussing protein adsorption on nanostructured polymer surfaces, concludes with highlighting important current research questions.

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Section: Block Copolymersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Controlling Protein Adsorption through Nanostructured Polymeric Surfaces

Firkowska‐Boden

Zhang

Jandt

2017

Adv Healthcare Materials

105

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“…1 Various methods for the directed selfassembly of thin block copolymer films have been developed almost up to the technological level. 2,3 Although the potential of pure block copolymers in the design of lithography, 4 photovoltaic, 5 membrane, 6 and other functional materials is not fully realized yet, 7 there is a significant evidence that it can be further multiplied in hybrid composites with nanoparticles [8][9][10] that are able to form highlyorganized structures via self-organisation. 11 Depending on their chemical nature, nanoparticles can in `fact considerably improve mechanical, barrier, electric, optical, and other characteristics of matrix polymers while preserving their good processability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ordering of anisotropic nanoparticles in diblock copolymer lamellae: Simulations with dissipative particle dynamics and a molecular theory

Berezkin

Kudryavtsev

Gorkunov

et al. 2017

The Journal of Chemical Physics

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Short title: Ordering of anisotropic nanoparticles: Simulations and theory a) Corresponding author. Electronic mail: yar@ips.ac.ru 2 ABSTRACT Local distribution and orientation of anisotropic nanoparticles in microphase-separated symmetric diblock copolymers has been simulated using dissipative particle dynamics and analyzed with a molecular theory. It has been demonstrated that nanoparticles are characterized by a non-trivial orientational ordering in the lamellar phase due to their anisotropic interactions with isotropic monomer units. In the simulations, the maximum concentration and degree of ordering are attained for nonselective nanorods near the domain boundary. In this case the nanorods have a certain tendency to align parallel to the interface in the boundary region and perpendicular to it inside the domains. Similar orientation ordering of spherical nanoparticles located at the lamellar interface is predicted by the molecular theory which takes into account that the nanoparticles interact with monomer units via both isotropic and anisotropic potentials. Computer simulations enable one to study the effects of the nanorod concentration, length, stiffness, and selectivity of their interactions with the copolymer components on the phase stability and orientational order of nanoparticles. If the volume fraction of the nanorods is lower than 0.1, they have no effect on the copolymer transition from the disordered state into a lamellar microstructure. Increasing nanorod concentration or nanorod length results in clustering of the nanorods and eventually leads to a macrophase separation, whereas the copolymer preserves its lamellar morphology. Segregated nanorods of length close to the width of the diblock copolymer domains are stacked side by side into smectic layers that fill domain space. Thus, spontaneous organization and orientation of nanorods leads to a spatial modulation of anisotropic composite properties creating an opportunity to align block copolymers by external fields which may be important for various applications.

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“…Considerable efforts have been devoted to developing methods to reliably direct BCP self-assembly, i.e. to align BCP domains, in various device-or application-relevant geometries and length scales [1,2]. Electric fields have been used quite effectively in this regard [3][4][5].…”

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confidence: 99%

Magnetic Alignment of Block Copolymer Microdomains by Intrinsic Chain Anisotropy

et al. 2015

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We examine the role of intrinsic chain susceptibility anisotropy in magnetic field directed selfassembly of a block copolymer using in situ X-ray scattering. Alignment of a lamellar mesophase is observed on cooling across the disorder-order transition with the resulting orientational order inversely proportional to the cooling rate. We discuss the origin of the susceptibility anisotropy, ∆χ, that drives alignment, and calculate its magnitude using coarse-grained molecular dynamics to sample conformations of surface-tethered chains, finding ∆χ ≈ 2 × 10 −8 . From field-dependent scattering data we estimate grains of ≈ 1.2 µm are present during alignment. These results demonstrate that intrinsic anisotropy is sufficient to support strong field-induced mesophase alignment and suggest a versatile strategy for field control of orientational order in block copolymers.

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Directed self-assembly of block copolymers: a tutorial review of strategies for enabling nanotechnology with soft matter

Cited by 362 publications

References 244 publications

Controlling Protein Adsorption through Nanostructured Polymeric Surfaces

Controlling Protein Adsorption through Nanostructured Polymeric Surfaces

Ordering of anisotropic nanoparticles in diblock copolymer lamellae: Simulations with dissipative particle dynamics and a molecular theory

Magnetic Alignment of Block Copolymer Microdomains by Intrinsic Chain Anisotropy

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