Block copolymers, consisting of multiple exhibit highly periodic nano-scale structures. Due to their sophisticated self-assembling capabilities, they have been used to mimic a well-known biological architecture, the helix. In materials science, numerous studies have addressed the artificial creation and control of helical structure, some of which have stimulated speculation about the three-dimensional (3D) structures of helices. Here, we present a (double) helical morphology of an amorphous, achiral ABC-type triblock terpolymer. It was found that the self-assembly is composed of B helical microdomains around A cores. The addition of short A chains into the A cores was essential to control the helical pitch. We further discovered that the self-assembly in thin films forms a stable alignment of the helical fibers arrayed in a honeycomb board perpendicular to the film plane.

Self-assembling nano-structure of a block copolymer studied by transmission electron tomography

240th National Meeting (2010)

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