Lamellar microstructure and dynamic behavior of diblock copolymer/nanoparticle composites under electric fields

Abstract

We investigate the microstructure and dynamic behavior of diblock copolymer/nanoparticle composites under electric fields by a series of cell dynamical system simulations. The study focuses on the effects of two factors, i.e., the electric field strength and the polymer/nanoparticle coupling interaction strength. Our simulations demonstrate that the presence of nanoparticles can evidently influence the morphology and orientation dynamics of the lamellar microstructure in diblock copolymer nanocomposites under electric fields. The nanoparticles can be still confined within their preferential phase during the electric field-induced orientation process and exhibit a spatial distribution with both short and long range order. The diblock/nanoparticle coupling strength and the electric field strength permit effective accesses to control the distribution of nanoparticles in the systems with hierarchical nanostructures. Our simulations shed light on the possible use of nanoparticles in designing and processing of various functional nanostructured systems.