Abstract
We report experimental results on relationship between polymer chain architecture and morphology of microdomains of asymmetric linear triblock copolymers, S1BS2 (S: polystyrene; B: polybutadiene). For this purpose, we synthesized various asymmetric triblock copolymers having different lengths of two end-blocks. The morphology was examined by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Although total molecular weight, composition, and thermal annealing temperature were kept constant, the morphology was found to change with a degree of chain asymmetry. One typical example exhibits a morphological change as cylinder → lamella → cylinder with a decrease in length of the shorter S2 end-block chains, while keeping the total molecular weight and the total polystyrene composition constant. This curious morphological behavior exhibiting a re-entrant type change is qualitatively in accord with the self-consistent field theory (SCFT) results by Matsen [J. Chem. Phys. 2000, 113, 55...
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