Temperature-controlled formation of inverse mesophases assembled from a rod–coil block copolymer†
Abstract
Inverse mesophases with ordered structures self-assembled by block copolymers (BCPs) are of great use in nanomaterials. However, it was still not easy to fabricate these ordered inverse nanostructures until recently. Herein, the self-assembling temperature is controlled to regulate the formation of inverse nanostructures, including spongy structures, Pnm polymer cubosomes, and p6mm polymer hexasomes, from a rod–coil BCP for the first time. By changing the self-assembling temperature, these inverse nanostructures can be obtained controllably in a small volume fraction window. Then, a porous silica cubosome was also prepared using the polymer cubosome as a hard template. Small-angle X-ray scattering and scanning electron microscopy results confirmed that the ordered bicontinuous structure with Pn
m symmetry was perfectly transferred to the inorganic silica cubosome. These results not only provide more details about the reason for the formation of inverse nanostructures, but also provide a facile route to prepare network-like nanomaterials.