Hierarchical and automatic construction of ultrathin polymer nanoarchitecture with islands of alkyl chains for spontaneous interfacial molecular alignment

Abstract

Hierarchical ultrathin nanoarchitectures are structurally stable and functionally versatile, which are supramolecular building blocks with a broad range of applications from optoelectronic devices to tunable biosensors. Here, we present a facile and scalable strategy to fabricate an ultrathin polymer nanoarchitecture with islands of alkyl chains for spontaneous interfacial molecular orientation by using the hierarchical and automatic self-assembly of amphiphilic comb-like copolymers. The intriguing self-constructed nanoarchitecture is achieved by facile doping and interfacial self-assembly of amphiphilic poly(dodecyl acrylate)–poly(acrylic acid) comb-like copolymers on hydrophilic indium tin oxide substrate. It is experimentally revealed that an ultrathin and spiky polymer nanoarchitecture with a hydrophobic segment surface formed by hydrophilic and cooperative interactions of amphiphilic copolymers ensures an automatic vertical molecular alignment of liquid crystals during hierarchical self-construction process. Furthermore, this effective approach affords a fast responsive and low-voltage driving polymer nanoarchitecture with an enhanced electro-optical performance compared to common polyimide layer.