Crystallization‐driven self‐assembly of semicrystalline block copolymers and end‐functionalized polymers: A minireview

Abstract

AbstractSelf‐assembly has been a powerful method to fabricate the polymer materials with well‐defined structures and morphologies. Such assembled materials have shown wide potential applications in many fields such as nanomaterial, nanomedicine, lithography, and microelectronic. Crystallization has been a general behavior of stereoregular polymers. Besides the various noncovalent interactions, crystallization of polymer blocks or end groups can be an efficient way to manipulate the self‐assembly pathway and assembled structures of polymers in both solid and solution. Crystallization‐driven self‐assembly has been widely implemented for the semicrystalline block copolymers (BCPs) and end‐functionalized polymers. This minireview briefly presents the recent progresses in the crystallization‐driven self‐assembly of BCPs and end‐functionalized polymers in both solid and solution states. Formation process, mechanism, and hierarchical structure of the crystallization‐induced assemblies for BCPs and end‐functionalized polymers are highlighted.