Abstract
Solvent vapor annealing treatments are used to control the orientation of nanostructures produced in thin films of a poly(styrene)-block-poly(isoprene)-block-poly(styrene)-block-poly((±)-lactide) (PS-PI-PS-PLA) and its blends with PLA homopolymer. The PS-PI-PS-PLA tetrablock terpolymer, previously determined to adopt a core(PLA)-shell(PS) cylindrical morphology in the bulk, gave perpendicular alignment of PLA cylinders over a limited range of thicknesses using a mixed solvent environment of tetrahydrofuran and acetone. On the other hand, perpendicular alignment was achieved regardless of film thickness by inclusion of 5 wt % homopolymer PLA in the PS-PI-PS-PLA tetrablock. Tapping mode atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to visualize film surface morphologies. Subsequent reactive ion etching (RIE) and basic hydrolysis of PLA produced 15 nm pores in a PS-PI-PS triblock thin film matrix. Nanoporosity was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and the vertical continuity of pores was confirmed by cross-sectional SEM analysis.
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