Issue 14, 2015

Smectic block copolymer thin films on corrugated substrates

Abstract

In this work we study equilibrium and non-equilibrium structures of smectic block copolymer thin films deposited on a topographically patterned substrate. A Brazovskii free energy model is employed to analyze the coupling between the smectic texture and the local mean curvature of the substrate. The substrate's curvature produces out-of-plane deformations of the block copolymer such that equilibrium textures are modified and dictated by the underlying geometry. For weak curvatures it is shown that the free energy of the block copolymer film follows a Helfrich form, scaling with the square of the mean curvature, with a bending constant dependent on the local pattern orientation. On substrates of varying mean curvature simulations show that topological defects are rapidly expelled from regions with large curvature. These results compare well with available experimental data of poly(styrene)-co-poly(ethylene-alt-propylene) smectic thin films.

Graphical abstract: Smectic block copolymer thin films on corrugated substrates

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
09 Jan 2015
Accepted
12 Feb 2015
First published
12 Feb 2015

Soft Matter, 2015,11, 2866-2873

Smectic block copolymer thin films on corrugated substrates

A. D. Pezzutti, L. R. Gómez and D. A. Vega, Soft Matter, 2015, 11, 2866 DOI: 10.1039/C5SM00071H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements