Block-copolymer amphiphiles have been observed to assemble into vesicles and other morphologies long known for lipids but with remarkably different properties. Coarse-grain molecular dynamics (CG-MD) is used herein to elaborate the structures and properties of diblock copolymer assemblies in water. By varying the hydrophilic/hydrophobic ratio of the copolymer in line with experiment, bilayer, c...

By means of multiscale molecular simulation, we here present a re-entrant disorder/order/disorder transition in diblock copolymer brushes.

We present a study of microphase separation induced by competitive hydrogen bonding in A-b-B/C diblock copolymer/homopolymer complexes where the diblock copolymer A-b-B is immiscible and the homopolymer C can interact unequally with both A and B blocks through hydrogen bonding. A model system containing poly(2-vinyl pyridine)-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (P2VP-b-PMMA) and poly(4-vinyl phenol...

The fabrication of SiC ceramic materials with an ordered nanostructure through the direct pyrolysis of a self-assembled inorganic-organic block copolymer has generally been unsuccessful even though the versatile processibility has been demonstrated with organic-organic block copolymers. Here we report the synthesis of a novel polycarbosilane-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) diblock copolymer thr...

Epoxy-functional sterically-stabilized diblock copolymer nanoparticles are prepared via PISA in mineral oil and then derivatized using various reagents reaction conditions.

The effects of thermal and solvent vapor annealing on the photovoltaic performance of a new class of all-conjugated poly(3-butylthiophene)-b-poly(3-hexylthiophene) diblock copolymer/PC(71)BM bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells were scrutinized and theoretically analyzed using the single diode model combined with experimental measurements. The meanings of physical parameters in the model were ...

The molecular orientation within a surface liquid crystalline layer made up of semifluorinated side-groups [-CO-(CH2)x-1-(CF2)yF] (SF groups) attached to the isoprene block of a styrene-isoprene diblock copolymer was determined by analyzing the partial electron yield Cedge NEXAFS signal. The results show that in contrast to the bulk, where the SF groups lie parallel to the diblock copolymer lam...

The synthesis and self-assembly behavior of biohybrid ABC triblock copolymers consisting of a synthetic diblock, polystyrene-b-polyethylene glycol (PSm-b-PEG113), where m is varied, and a hemeprotein, myoglobin (Mb) or horse radish peroxidase (HRP), is described. The synthetic diblock copolymer is first functionalized with the heme cofactor and subsequently reconstituted with the apoprotein or ...

Polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) is used for the highly convenient and efficient preparation of ampholytic diblock copolymer nanoparticles directly in acidic aqueous solution. Cationic nanoparticles comprising a protonated polyamine stabilizer block and a hydrophobic polyacid core-forming block are formed at pH 2. Micelle inversion occurs at pH 10 to produce anionic nanoparticles wit...

Novel methods for immobilizing proteins on surfaces have the potential to impact basic biological research as well as various biochip applications. Here, we demonstrate a unique method to pattern proteins with a nanometer periodicity on silicon oxide substrates using microphase-separated diblock copolymer thin films. We developed a straightforward and effective protein immobilization technique ...