Gyroid-structured nanoporous polymer monolith from PDMS-containing block copolymers for templated synthesis

Abstract

Herein, we aim to develop a simple method for the fabrication of well-ordered nanoporous materials from polystyrene-block-poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PS-PDMS) diblock copolymer. By taking advantage of the intrinsic strong segregation strength between PS and PDMS, gyroid-structured PS-PDMS can be simply acquired from initially lamellae-forming PS-PDMS (i.e., PS-PDMS with almost equal volume fractions for the two blocks) by using solution casting with PS selective solvent. With the high etching selectivity of the constituted blocks, nanoporous PS materials with gyroid-structured nanochannels can be obtained from self-assembled PS-PDMS by selectively etching the PDMS block using hydrofluoric acid. The fabricated nanoporous PS can be used as a template for controlled synthesis followed by removal of the PS to obtain various types of nanoporous materials including organics (such as epoxy) and inorganics (such as SiO2 and Ni) with well-defined gyroid textures.