Hierarchy in Block Copolymer Morphology

In the recent years, the study of block copolymers has received special attention from polymer scientists, as it has proved to be of a great importance in a variety of fields like life-sciences, tissue engineering, drug delivery, and nanotechnology and material sciences. This has led to a thorough investigation of the “hierarchy of the block copolymer morphology” i.e. the microscopic level changes taking place during the actual formation of the polymer. Complexation of oligomeric amphiphiles to polymers using ionic interactions, coordination, or hydrogen bonding leads to polymeric comb-shaped supramolecules (complexes), which self-assemble at a length scale larger than a few nm . Self-assembly at an order of magnitude larger than the nanometer length scale is provided by block copolymers, and combination of the latter two concepts leads to structural hierarchies . Although, extensive research has been conducted on this topic; an attempt is made here to explain the morphology of block copolymers in the various forms.