Block copolymer amphiphiles that self-assemble into membranes present robust and functionalizable alternatives to biological assemblies. Coarse-grained molecular dynamics shows that thick bilayers of A-B copolymers accommodate protein-like channels and also tend to regulate transport. This occurs as flexible, hydrophilic A chains insert into the pore and obstruct water entry. A-B-A triblocks th...

The amphiphilic block copolymers are composed of various combinations of hydrophilic and hydrophobic block unimers. The variation in unimer ratio alters the surface as well as micelle-forming properties of the block copolymers. These nanoscopic micelles have the ability to encapsulate hydrophobic compounds and act as potential drug carrier. MePEG-PCL copolymers with various block lengths were s...

We report measurements of rapid ordering and preferential alignment in block copolymer films zone annealed below the order-disorder transition temperature. The orientational correlation lengths measured after approximately 5 h above the glass-transition temperature ( approximately 2 microm) were an order of magnitude greater than that obtained under equivalent static annealing. The ability to r...

We demonstrate soft graphoepitaxy of block copolymer assembly as a facile, scalable nanolithography for highly ordered sub-30-nm scale features. Various morphologies of hierarchical block copolymer assembly were achieved by means of disposable topographic confinement of photoresist pattern. Unlike usual graphoepitaxy, soft graphoepitaxy generates the functional nanostructures of metal and semic...

The goal of this work was to evaluate chemically-functionalized block copolymers as adhesion promoters for metal/thermoset resin interfaces. Novel block copolymers were synthesized which contain pendant functional groups reactive toward copper and epoxy resins. In particular, imidazole and triazole functionalities that chelate with copper were incorporated onto one block, while secondary amines...

Nanocomposites composed of diblock copolymer/ferroelectric nanoparticles were formed by selectively constraining ferroelectric nanoparticles (NPs) within diblock copolymer nanodomains via judicious surface modification of ferroelectric NPs. Ferroelectric barium titanate (BaTiO3) NPs with different sizes that are permanently capped with polystyrene chains (i.e., PS-functionalized BaTiO3NPs) were...

Self-assembly is a powerful paradigm, wherein molecules spontaneously form ordered phases exhibiting well-defined nanoscale periodicity and shapes. However, the inherent energy-minimization aspect of self-assembly yields a very limited set of morphologies, such as lamellae or hexagonally packed cylinders. Here, we show how soft self-assembling materials-block copolymer thin films-can be manipul...

Bovine serum albumin (BSA) nanoemulsions were produced by high pressure homogenization with a tri-block copolymer (Poloxamer 407), which presents a central hydrophobic chain of polyoxypropylene (PPO) and two identical lateral hydrophilic chains of polyethylene glycol (PEG). We observed a linear correlation between tri-block copolymer concentration and size - the use of 5mg/mL of Poloxamer 407 y...

Templated self-assembly of block copolymers using topographic templates is attractive because it can generate dense nanoscale patterns over a large area with a periodicity down to 10 nm. In our previous work, regular patterns were achieved by using a polystyrene-bpolydimethylsiloxane (PS-b-PDMS) block copolymer and topographic templates . However, more complex block-copolymer patterns required ...

Templated self-assembly of block copolymers using topographic templates is attractive because it can generate dense nanoscale patterns over a large area with a periodicity down to 10 nm. In our previous work, regular patterns were achieved by using a polystyrene-bpolydimethylsiloxane (PS-b-PDMS) block copolymer and topographic templates . However, more complex block-copolymer patterns required ...