Applications of self-consistent field theory in polymer systems

Abstract

The self-consistent field theory (SCFT) based upon coarse-grained model is especially suitable for investigating thermodynamic equilibrium morphology and the phase diagram of inhomogeneous polymer systems subjected to phase separation. The advantage of this model is that the details of the chain such as the architecture of the chain and the sequence of blocks can be considered. We present here an overview of SCFT approach and its applications in polymeric systems. In particular, we wish to focus on our group’s achievements in applications of SCFT in such fields: simulation of microphase separation morphologies of multiblock copolymers with a complex molecular architecture, interactions between brush-coated sheets in a polymer matrix, mixtures of flexible polymers and small molecular liquid crystals at the interface, shapes of polymer-chain-anchored fluid vesicles, self-assembled morphologies of block copolymers in dilute solution, and so on. Finally, the further developments as well as the perspective applications of SCFT are discussed.