Debye–Scherrer rings from block copolymer films with powder-like order

Structural evolution and nanodomain formation in blend films of a block copolymer and homopolymer

This study explores the concurrent formation of surface perforations, parallel cylinders, and double gyroids in symmetric PS-b-PMMA/hPS blend films during isothermal annealing at 205 and 240 °C. By controlling the weight fraction ratio of PS-b-PMMA to hPS at 75/25, we systematically examined the impact of film thickness and annealing temperature on nanodomain development. Using in situ GISAXS and ex situ SEM, we observed that thin films rapidly formed surface perforations and underlying parallel cylinders at both annealing temperatures. For thicker films, annealing at 205 °C resulted in the coexistence of surface perforations and parallel cylinders, while annealing at 240 °C yielded the additional formation of double gyroids besides surface perforations and parallel cylinders. Furthermore, the double gyroids, which grew independently with {121}DG planes parallel to the substrate, did not exhibit in-plane epitaxial relationships with the other structures. These findings highlight the critical role of annealing temperature and film thickness in directing nanodomain morphology, offering new insights for the design of nanostructured materials with tailored properties.

Carbohydrate-based block copolymers with sub-10 nm face-centered cubic nanostructures for low-power-consuming and ultraviolet light-triggered synaptic phototransistors

Addressing environmental concerns and producing sustainable and environmentally friendly electronic devices with low power consumption poses a significant challenge. This study introduces phototransistor devices employing morphologically controlled block copolymers based on maltotriose, maltoheptaose, and β-cyclodextrin as polymer electrets. Ordered self-assembled morphologies can be achieved by utilizing microwave radiation for rapid annealing (within 5 s) with optimized annealing conditions. Herein, face-centered cubic (FCC), vertical, and mixed cylindrical nanostructures are reported. The resulting well-defined morphologies play a pivotal role in enhancing the electron-trapping capability of the block copolymers and facilitating charge carrier transport between the electret and semiconducting layers. Consequently, the phototransistor memory manifests exceptional performance, featuring stability and endurance. Intriguingly, the cavity of β-cyclodextrin provides a stable environment for the trapped charges, leading to a larger memory window than other block copolymers. On the other hand, a device consisting of MT-b-PS exhibited superior current contrast exceeding 106 even under a low drain voltage of -1 V, attributed to sub-10 nm FCC nanostructures. Furthermore, this phototransistor device successfully emulated the synaptic functions of sensing, learning, and short- and long-term memory in the human brain, along with a low energy consumption of 0.312 fJ. Hence, this report opens the pathways for developing promising bio-based electronic devices.

Molecular-weight effects of a homopolymer on the AB- and ABC-stacks of perforations in block copolymer/homopolymer films

We have demonstrated the molecular-weight effects of adding homopolystyrene (hPS) on the evolution of perforated layers and double gyroids in polystyrene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate)-based films during isothermal annealing. Two homopolystyrenes of 2.8 and 17 kg mol-1 were used. To prepare blend films, PS-b-PMMA and hPSx (x: 2.8 or 17) were mixed at a weight-fraction ratio of 75/25 in toluene and then spin-coated at SiOx/Si. Spin coating inevitably produced films with thick edges at the periphery of the substrate. The structural evolution of the spun films was in situ characterized by grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS). The annealed films were then characterized using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). We found that thin middle regions behaved differently from thick beads for the films. The middle of the blend films mainly formed perforated layers with different spatial orders and orientations, depending on the molecular weight of added hPS chains. Hexagonally perforated layers quickly formed at 205 °C for PS-b-PMMA/hPS2.8 films. However, when hPS17 was used instead of hPS2.8, perforated layers formed with defects in PS-b-PMMA/hPS17 films annealed at 205 °C. Annealing at 240 °C improved the spatial order and orientation of perforated layers for a PS-b-PMMA/hPS17 film. Nevertheless, annealing at 240 °C inversely depressed the in-plane spatial order of perforated layers for a PS-b-PMMA/hPS2.8 film. The depression in the in-plane spatial order is ascribed to a dilution effect of added short chains. Compared to the middle regions, the thick beads went through several metastable phases, such as perpendicularly oriented perforated layers and double gyroids.

Distributions of Deuterated Polystyrene Chains in Perforated Layers of Blend Films of a Symmetric Polystyrene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate)

We have examined the spatial distributions of polymer chains in blend films of weakly segregated polystyrene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) [P(S-b-MMA)] and deuterated polystyrene (dPS). By fine-tuning the composition (ϕ_PS+dPS = 63.8 vol %) of the total PS/dPS component and annealing temperature (230 and 270 °C), P(S-b-MMA)/dPS blend films mainly form perforated layers with a parallel orientation (hereafter PLs^//). The distributions of dPS in PLs^// were probed by grazing-incidence small-angle neutron scattering (GISANS) and time-of-flight neutron reflectivity (ToF-NR). GISANS and ToF-NR results offer evidence that dPS chains preferentially locate at the free surface and within the PS layers for blend films that were annealed at 230 °C. Upon annealing at 270 °C, dPS chains distribute within PS layers and perforated PMMA layers. Nevertheless, dPS chains still retain a surface preference for thin films. In contrast, such surface segregation of dPS chains is prohibited for thick films when annealed at 270 °C.

Influence of Osmotic Pressure on Nanostructures in Thin Films of a Weakly-Segregated Block Copolymer and Its Blends with a Homopolymer

We studied the influence of osmotic pressure on nanostructures in thin films of a symmetric weakly-segregated polystyrene-block-poly (methyl methacrylate), P(S-b-MMA), block copolymer and its mixtures with a polystyrene (PS) homopolymer of various compositions. Thin films were deposited on substrates through surface neutralization. The surface neutralization results from the PS mats, which were oxidized and cross-linked by UV-light exposure. Thus, thermal annealing produced perpendicularly oriented lamellae and perforated layers, depending on the content of added PS chains. Nevertheless, a mixed orientation was obtained from cylinders in thin films, where a high content of PS was blended with the P(S-b-MMA). A combination of UV-light exposure and acetic acid rinsing was used to remove the PMMA block. Interestingly, the treatment of PMMA removal inevitably produced osmotic pressure and consequently resulted in surface wrinkling of perpendicular lamellae. As a result, a hierarchical structure with two periodicities was obtained for wrinkled films with perpendicular lamellae. The formation of surface wrinkling is due to the interplay between UV-light exposure and acetic acid rinsing. UV-light exposure resulted in different mechanical properties between the skin and the inner region of a film. Acetic acid rinsing produced osmotic pressure. It was found that surface wrinkling could be suppressed by reducing film thickness, increasing PS content and using high-molecular-weight P(S-b-MMA) BCPs.

3D printed spherical environmental chamber for neutron reflectometry and grazing-incidence small-angle neutron scattering experiments

In neutron scattering on soft matter, an important concern is the control and stability of environmental conditions surrounding the sample. Complex sample environment setups are often expensive to fabricate or simply not achievable by conventional workshop manufacturing. We make use of state-of-the-art 3D metal-printing technology to realize a sample environment for large sample sizes, optimized for investigations on thin film samples with neutron reflectometry (NR) and grazing-incidence small-angle neutron scattering (GISANS). With the flexibility and freedom of design given by 3D metal-printing, a spherical chamber with fluidic channels inside its walls is printed from an AlSi10Mg powder via selective laser melting (SLM). The thin channels ensure a homogeneous heating of the sample environment from all directions and allow for quick temperature switches in well-equilibrated atmospheres. In order to optimize the channel layout, flow simulations were carried out and verified in temperature switching tests. The spherical, edgeless design aids the prevention of condensation inside the chamber in case of high humidity conditions. The large volume of the sample chamber allows for high flexibility in sample size and geometry. While a small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurement through the chamber walls reveals a strong isotropic scattering signal resulting from the evenly orientated granular structure introduced by SLM, a second SANS measurement through the windows shows no additional background originating from the chamber. Exemplary GISANS and NR measurements in time-of-flight mode are shown to prove that the chamber provides a stable, background free sample environment for the investigation of thin films.

GIWAXS-SIIRkit: scattering intensity, indexing and refraction calculation toolkit for grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering of organic materials

Grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS) has become an increasingly popular technique for quantitative structural characterization and comparison of thin films. For this purpose, accurate intensity normalization and peak position determination are crucial. At present, few tools exist to estimate the uncertainties of these measurements. Here, a simulation package is introduced called GIWAXS-SIIRkit, where SIIR stands for scattering intensity, indexing and refraction. The package contains several tools that are freely available for download and can be executed in MATLAB. The package includes three functionalities: estimation of the relative scattering intensity and the corresponding uncertainty based on experimental setup and sample dimensions; extraction and indexing of peak positions to approximate the crystal structure of organic materials starting from calibrated GIWAXS patterns; and analysis of the effects of refraction on peak positions. Each tool is based on a graphical user interface and designed to have a short learning curve. A user guide is provided with detailed usage instruction, tips for adding functionality and customization, and exemplary files.

Biomimetic Separation of Transport and Matrix Functions in Lamellar Block Copolymer Channel-Based Membranes

Cell membranes control mass, energy, and information flow to and from the cell. In the cell membrane a lipid bilayer serves as the barrier layer, with highly efficient molecular machines, membrane proteins, serving as the transport elements. In this way, highly specialized transport properties are achieved by these composite materials by segregating the matrix function from the transport function using different components. For example, cell membranes containing aquaporin proteins can transport ∼4 billion water molecules per second per aquaporin while rejecting all other molecules including salts, a feat unmatched by any synthetic system, while the impermeable lipid bilayer provides the barrier and matrix properties. True separation of functions between the matrix and the transport elements has been difficult to achieve in conventional solute separation synthetic membranes. In this study, we created membranes with distinct matrix and transport elements through designed coassembly of solvent-stable artificial (peptide-appended pillar[5]arene, PAP5) or natural (gramicidin A) model channels with block copolymers into lamellar multilayered membranes. Self-assembly of a lamellar structure from cross-linkable triblock copolymers was used as a scalable replacement for lipid bilayers, offering better stability and mechanical properties. By coassembly of channel molecules with block copolymers, we were able to synthesize nanofiltration membranes with sharp selectivity profiles as well as uncharged ion exchange membranes exhibiting ion selectivity. The developed method can be used for incorporation of different artificial and biological ion and water channels into synthetic polymer membranes. The strategy reported here could promote the construction of a range of channel-based membranes and sensors with desired properties, such as ion separations, stimuli responsiveness, and high sensitivity.

Grazing-incidence small-angle neutron scattering from structures below an interface

Changes of scattering are observed as the grazing angle of incidence of an incoming beam increases and probes different depths in samples. A model has been developed to describe the observed intensity in grazing-incidence small-angle neutron scattering (GISANS) experiments. This includes the significant effects of instrument resolution, the sample transmission, which depends on both absorption and scattering, and the sample structure. The calculations are tested with self-organized structures of two colloidal samples with different size particles that were measured on two different instruments. The model allows calculations for various instruments with defined resolution and can be used to design future improved experiments. The possibilities and limits of GISANS for different studies are discussed using the model calculations.

Lamellar Diblock Copolymer Thin Films during Solvent Vapor Annealing Studied by GISAXS: Different Behavior of Parallel and Perpendicular Lamellae

The reorientation of lamellae and the dependence of the lamellar spacing, Dlam, on polymer volume fraction, ϕP, Dlam ∝ ϕP-β, in diblock copolymer thin films during solvent vapor annealing (SVA) are examined by combining white light interferometry (WLI) and grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS). A thin film of lamellae-forming poly(styrene-b-butadiene) prepared by spin-coating features lamellae of different orientations with the lamellar spacing depending on orientation. During annealing with ethyl acetate (EAC) vapor, it is found that perpendicular lamellae behave differently from parallel ones, which is due to the fact that their initial lamellar thicknesses differ strongly. Quantitatively, the swelling process is composed of three regimes and the drying process of two regimes. The first two regimes of swelling are associated with a significant structural rearrangement of the lamellae; i.e., the lamellae first become thicker, and then perpendicular and randomly oriented lamellae vanish, which results in a purely parallel orientation at the end of the swelling process. The rearrangement is attributed to the increase of mobility of the polymer chains imparted by the solvent and to a decrease of total free energy of the thin film. In the third regime of swelling, the scaling exponent is found to be β = -0.32. During drying, the deswelling is nonaffine which may be a consequence of the increase of nonfavorable segmental interactions as the solvent is removed.

Morphology determination of defect-rich diblock copolymer films with time-of-flight grazing-incidence small-angle neutron scattering

The complex nanomorphology of a defect-rich deuterated poly(styrene-block-methyl methacrylate), P(S-b-MMAd), diblock copolymer film is determined with a combination of grazing-incidence small-angle neutron scattering (GISANS) and time-of-flight (TOF) mode. TOF-GISANS enables the simultaneous performance of several GISANS measurements that differ in wavelength. The resulting set of GISANS data covers different ranges of the scattering vector and has different scattering depths. Thus surface-sensitive and bulk-sensitive measurements can be performed simultaneously. The P(S-b-MMAd) film exhibits a lamellar microphase separation structure, which because of the defects is arranged into small, randomly oriented grains, composed of four–five lamellar repetitions. In the near-surface region, the lamellar structure is oriented parallel to the substrate, which explains the smooth surface found with atomic force microscopy.

HipGISAXS: a high-performance computing code for simulating grazing-incidence X-ray scattering data

This article describes the development of a flexible grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) simulation code in the framework of the distorted wave Born approximation that effectively utilizes the parallel processing power provided by graphics processors and multicore processors. The code, entitledHigh-Performance GISAXS, computes the GISAXS image for any given superposition of user-defined custom shapes or morphologies in a material and for various grazing-incidence angles and sample orientations. These capabilities permit treatment of a wide range of possible sample structures, including multilayered polymer films and nanoparticles on top of or embedded in a substrate or polymer film layers. In cases where the material displays regions of significant refractive index contrast, an algorithm has been implemented to perform a slicing of the sample and compute the averaged refractive index profile to be used as the reference geometry of the unperturbed system. A number of case studies are presented, which demonstrate good agreement with the experimental data for a variety of polymer and hybrid polymer/nanoparticle composite materials. The parallelized simulation code is well suited for addressing the analysis efforts required by the increasing amounts of GISAXS data being produced by high-speed detectors and ultrafast light sources.

Control of ordering and structure in soft templated mesoporous carbon films by use of selective solvent additives

The structure of ordered mesoporous carbons fabricated using poly(styrene-block-N,N,-dimethyl-n-octadecylamine p-styrenesulfonate) (PS-b-PSS-DMODA) as the template and phenolic resin (resol) as the carbon source can be easily manipulated by inclusion of low concentrations of low volatility selective solvents in the casting solution. Casting from neat methyl ethyl ketone yields a disordered structure even upon thermal annealing. However, addition of both dioctyl phthalate (DOP, PS selective) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO, resol and PSS-DMODA selective) at modest concentrations to this casting solution provides sufficient mobility to produce highly ordered films with cylindrical mesopores. The DOP acts to swell the hydrophobic domain and can more than double the mesopore size, while the DMSO acts to swell the resol phase. Moreover, the surface area of the mesoporous carbons increases significantly as the meosopore size increases. This is a result of the decrease in wall thickness, which can be ascertained by the constant d-spacing of the mesostructure as the pore size increases. This behavior is counter to the typical effect of pore swelling agents that increase the pore size and decrease the surface area. Moreover, with only 4 wt % DOP/DMSO in the solution (20 wt % relative to solids), the scattering profiles exhibit many orders of diffraction, even upon carbonization, which is not typically observed for soft templated films. Variation in the concentration of DOP and DMSO during casting enables facile tuning of the structure of mesoporous carbon films.

Grazing-incidence transmission X-ray scattering: surface scattering in the Born approximation

Determination of the three-dimensional order in thin nanostructured films remains challenging. Real-space imaging methods, including electron microscopies and scanning-probe methods, have difficulty reconstructing the depth of a film and suffer from limited statistical sampling. X-ray and neutron scattering have emerged as powerful complementary techniques but have substantial data collection and analysis challenges. This article describes a new method, grazing-incidence transmission small-angle X-ray scattering, which allows for fast scattering measurements that are not burdened by the refraction and reflection effects that have to date plagued grazing-incidence X-ray scattering. In particular, by arranging a sample/beam geometry wherein the scattering exits through the edge of the substrate, it is possible to record scattering images that are well described by straightforward (Born approximation) scattering models.

Direct structural characterisation of line gratings with grazing incidence small-angle x-ray scattering

Grazing incidence small-angle x-ray scattering (GISAXS) and x-ray reflectometry (XRR) have been used to investigate structural parameters, especially period length, line width, groove width, and line height, of grating test structures in the sub-micron range. The gratings are e-beam written structures on a quartz substrate with a fixed period length, but different line and groove widths, covered by a layer of ruthenium. A Ru layer thickness of 9.4 nm has been determined with XRR. GISAXS was performed in two orientations, with an incident beam alignment perpendicular and parallel to the grating lines. The scattering patterns in parallel orientation have been analysed without numerical simulation by Fourier transformation. The obtained results for line and groove width are in good agreement with nominal values. The analysis method has been validated by analysing simulated scattering data. A superposition of scattering intensities measured for different azimuthal rotation angles close to parallel alignment was used to determine the line height of a grating of 27.3 nm, which is also close to the nominal value. The Fourier analysis procedure opens up the possibility of traceable structure determination with GISAXS in the nanometre range.