Monte Carlo simulations of the phase separation of a copolymer blend in a thin film

Zhexiao Wang, Jing Shao, Heng Pan, Xiaoshuang Feng, Peng Chen*, Ru Xia, Xiangsong Wu, Jiasheng Qian

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Monte Carlo simulations were carried out to study the phase separation of a copolymer blend comprising an alternating copolymer and/or block copolymer in a thin film, and a phase diagram was constructed with a series of composed recipes. The effects of composition and segregation strength on phase separation were discussed in detail. The chain conformation of the block copolymer and alternating copolymer were investigated with changes of the segregation strength. Our simulations revealed that the segment distribution along the copolymer chain and the segregation strength between coarse-grained beads are two important parameters controlling phase separation and chain conformation in thin films of a copolymer blend. A well-controlled phase separation in the copolymer blend can be used to fabricate novel nanostructures.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)567-571
Number of pages5
JournalChemPhysChem
Volume16
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 11 2014

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 20974001, 21174001, 51273001, and 51403001), "211 Project" "Incubation Fund for Excellent Young Researcher" of Anhui University, and the Anhui Province Institute of High Performance Rubber Materials and Products.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

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