Core-Shell Double Gyroid Structure Formed by Linear ABC Terpolymer Thin Films

Ségolène Antoine (1) , Karim Aissou (1) , Muhammad Mumtaz (1) , Siham Telitel (1) , Gilles Pecastaings (1) , Anne-Laure Wirotius (2) , Cyril Brochon (1) , Eric Cloutet (1) , Guillaume Fleury (1) , Georges Hadziioannou (1)

1 Team 4 LCPO : Polymer Materials for Electronic, Energy, Information and Communication Technologies
2 Team 1 LCPO : Polymerization Catalyses & Engineering

The synthesis and self-assembly in thin-film configuration of linear ABC triblock terpolymer chains consisting of polystyrene (PS), poly(2-vinylpyridine) (P2VP), and polyisoprene (PI) are described. For that purpose, a hydroxylterminated PS-b-P2VP (45 kg mol−1) building block and a carboxyl-terminated PI (9 kg mol−1) are first separately prepared by anionic polymerization, and then are coupled via a Steglich esterification reaction. This quantitative and metal-free catalyst synthesis route reveals to be very interesting since functionalization and purification steps are straightforward, and well-defined terpolymers are produced. A solvent vapor annealing (SVA) process is used to promote the self-assembly of frustrated PS-b-P2VP-b-PI chains into a thinfilm core–shell double gyroid (Q230, space group: Ia3d) structure. As terraces are formed within PS-b-P2VP-b-PI thin films during the SVA process under a CHCl3 vapor, different plane orientations of the Q230 structure ((211), (110), (111), and (100)) are observed at the polymer–air interface depending on the film thickness.

Keywords: anionic polymerization; core–shell double gyroid structure; selfassembly; Steglich esterification; thin films; Core-shell double gyroid structure; thin film; self-assembly

Domains: Polymers

Ségolène Antoine, Karim Aissou, Muhammad Mumtaz, Siham Telitel, Gilles Pecastaings, et al.. Core-Shell Double Gyroid Structure Formed by Linear ABC Terpolymer Thin Films. Macromolecular Rapid Communications, 2018, 39 (9), pp.1800043. ⟨10.1002/marc.201800043⟩. ⟨hal-01755261⟩