Cyclic block copolymers have garnered increased attention due to their unique structure, differing from linear and branched counterparts due to the absence of the chain ends. The lack of end groups can contribute to development of new physical properties. In our current research we are studying cyclic poly(styrene-b-methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA) copolymer self-assembly in thin films (thicknesses ~10-100 nm). By choosing PS-b-PMMA we can exploit the non-preferential wetting of the block copolymer at the free surface in order to investigate the effect of cyclic architecture on self-assembly behavior and physical properties in comparison to linear PS-b-PMMA, which has yet to be studied. In this work, we characterize the effects of thin film confinement and polymer-substrate surface interactions on the morphology and order-order transitions of cyclic block copolymers using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging techniques.

Characterizing the nanoscale properties of cyclic block copolymers in thin films

251st National Meeting (2016)

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