Morphological transformations of AB diblock copolymer particles in soft confinement

Abstract

The morphologies of diblock copolymers self-assembled under selected solvent have been investigated systematically using a simulated annealing method. Various categories of internal morphologies are observed. The morphology transform can be modulated by three important factors: softness of confinement, volume fraction of A/B monomers ([Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]) and selectivity of solvent. With increase in [Formula: see text], the selectivity of solvent can determine the type and number of cores. The softness of confinement can greatly influence the shape of copolymer which prefers to be sphere or nonsphere. Stacked lamella morphology is an efficient method to reduce the contact number between A-B blocks in softer confinement. Core–shell morphologies usually have large curly degree with small end-to-end distance of AB complex chain. The nucleation condition is that the ratio of end-to-end distance of AB complex chain to the length of whole chain is lower than 0.28. The simulation results can provide theoretical guidance for experiment in synthesis of nanoparticles.