Creation of Hierarchically Ordered Nanophase Structures in Block Polymers Having Various Competing Interactions

Abstract

Since the beginning of this century, new polymer morphologies beyond the conventional ones have been found in several complex polymer systems. This article summarizes the very recent advances in morphological studies on block copolymer-based multiple component polymer systems that possess characteristic chain connectivity and noncovalent bonding interactions. Among those, three types of multiphase systems are examined here. The first system consists of star-shaped terpolymers of the ABC type, which exhibit several Archimedean tiling structures. The second one is represented by a block copolymer/homopolymer blend or a block copolymer/block copolymer blend with hydrogen-bonding interactions. It has been found these blends also exhibit new mesoscopic tiling structures. The third one is composed of multiblock copolymers and terpolymers. Hierarchical structures having double periodicity have been formulated for sample polymers including block chains with different lengths. These new morphologies arising from i...