Hydrogen bonding strength effect on self-assembly supramolecular structures of diblock copolymer/homopolymer blends

Abstract

The steric hindrance effect on the hydrogen bonding strength and self-assembly supramolecular structures of the PS-b-PVPh diblock copolymer when blended with P4VP and P2VP homopolymers was investigated.

Hierarchical Self-Assembled Structures from Diblock Copolymer Mixtures by Competitive Hydrogen Bonding Strength

“…In previous studies [ 11 , 13 , 40 ] we have proposed the preparation of PS- b -PVPh diblock copolymers using anionic polymerization and then performing a hydrolytic reaction to remove tert -butyl ether units from poly( tert -butoxystyrene) (PtBuOS, Scheme 1 a). We observed the formation of phenolic OH units for PS- b -PVPh diblock copolymer based on the complete removal of the protective tert -butyl groups based on FTIR, NMR and GPC analyses.…”

“…To understand the self-assembly behavior and completive hydrogen bonding interactions of PS- b -PVPh/PEO- b -P4VP mixtures, we should understand the corresponding behavior of individual PS- b -PVPh/PEO and PS- b -PVPh/P4VP blends. In our previous studies [ 11 , 13 ], we have investigated the self-assembly structures of PS- b -PVPh/P4VP blends, which exhibit the wet-brush behavior featuring fully order-order morphological transition from lamellae, gyroid, cylindrical, and BCC spherical nanostructures. As a result, we firstly investigated the phase behavior of the PS 224 - b -PVPh 854 /PEO 220 blend system.…”

“…Overall, we could conclude that the PS- b -PVPh/PEO blends also display the wet-brush behavior where K A = 280 of PVPh/PEO is stronger than the K B = 66.8 of PVPh, which is consistent with our previous proposed scheme. However, it did not display a full order-order morphological transition, probably because of the relatively weaker intermolecular hydrogen bonding strength as compared with strong PVPh/P4VP blend system ( K A = 1200) [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ].…”

“…However, mediating the different molecular weights of each block segment to control the volume fraction by using living polymerization methods may be time-consuming and difficult and thus blending the homopolymer or another block copolymer through intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions has received much interest recently [ 5 , 6 , 7 ]. For diblock copolymer/homopolymer (A- b -B/C) blends with hydrogen bonding interactions, there are four different situations that have been proposed based on experimental and theoretical results [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. However, only the typical self-assembly nanostructures as diblock copolymers were observed for A- b -B/C blends including PS- b -PVPh blending with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), polycaprolactone (PCL), PEO, P2VP, and P4VP homopolymers; PS- b -P2VP, and PCL- b -P4VP diblock copolymers blending PVPh homopolymer; PVPh- b -PCL or PVPh- b -PMMA blending with PVP homopolymer [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ].…”

Nanostructured polymer blends based on polystyrene‐b‐polybutadiene‐b‐poly(methyl methacrylate) triblock copolymers modified with polystyrene and/or poly(methyl methacrylate) homopolymers

“…Much work can be found in the literature about blends of block copolymers or blends of block copolymers with homopolymers related mostly to research on the stability of ordered bicontinuous phases intercalated between cylindrical and lamellar phases, for the development of materials with new potential applications. In particular, work about blends based on diblock copolymers can be found, motivated by the possibility of obtaining a great variety of bicontinuous structures in a small composition interval of the diblock copolymer diagram. In fact, it is easier to prepare blends with homopolymers than synthesizing copolymers with different compositions.…”