Solid State Self-Assembly of Polyferrocenylsilane Diblock Copolymers and Applications in Materials Science

摘要

Diblock copolymers with immiscible segments can undergo microphase separation in the solid state to give a variety of nanostructures. Depending on the volume fraction of each component in the diblock copolymer, structures such as spheres, cylinders and lamellae may be formed. Polyferrocenylsilanes (PFS) are iron-containing polymers that can be readily incorporated into diblock copolymers with polystyrene. Using anionic polymerization, we demonstrate the synthesis of poly(styrene-b- ferrocenylethylmethylsilane) (PS-b-PFEMS) and variation of iron content in the block copolymer. Phase separation of PS-b-PFEMS occurs both in the bulk and in thin films and predictable morphologies are obtained.