Sub-10 nm nanostructures have received growing attention with the development of microelectronics, nanopatterning, etc. Rod-coil diblock copolymers with a relatively small total degree of polymerization can self-assemble into ordered nanostructures of small periodic sizes due to the large interaction parameter between rod and coil blocks. Diblock copolymer composed of flexible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and a mesogen-jacketed liquid crystalline polymer poly{2,5-bis[(4-methoxyphenyl)-oxycarbonyl]styrene} (PMPCS), PDMS-b-PMPCS, can form various small-sized nanostructures through microphase separation. The synthesis was carried out according to our previous report. The polydispersity of PDMS-b-PMPCS was measured by gel permeation chromatography. The molecular weight (MW) of PMPCS was obtained from 1H NMR and the absolute MW of the PDMS macroinitiator. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were conducted to determine the nanostructures of the block copolymer (BCP) samples. Lamellae, double gyroid, and double diamond morphologies, along with a transition from lamellae to double diamond, were observed. The rigidity and liquid crystallinity of PMPCS have a great influence on the formation of the bicontinuous structures. Porous materials with sub-10 nm pores can be obtained from the self-assembled BCP samples through spin-coating and oxygen plasma etching or HF etching. For example, patterning masks can be derived from lamellar- or HEX-structured BCP films and used in microelectronics.

Nanoporous materials with sub-10 nm pores prepared from a rod-coil diblock copolymer

255th National Meeting (2018)

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