Prof. Jin Kon Kim was invited to visit South China Advanced Institute for Soft Matter Science and Technology (AISMST) and gave a report of “Functional Nanomaterials based on Block Copolymer Self-Assembly”.
In his report, he mentioned that because the microdomains obtained by block copolymer (BCP) self-assembly are mainly decided by the volume fraction of one block, it is very difficult to fabricate highly asymmetric line patterns based on BCP. His group obtained highly asymmetric lamellar morphologies by the use of binary blends of block copolymers [polystyrene-b-poly(2-vinyl pyridine) copolymer (PS-b-P2VP) and PS-b-poly(4-hydroxystyrene) copolymer (PS-b-PHS)] where P2VP and PHS are capable of the hydrogen bonding. Also, his group observed for the first time the cylindrical and double gyroid microdomains in neat linear block copolymers at the symmetric overall volume fraction by using tetrablock copolymers PS-block-polyisoprene-block-PS-block-polyisoprene (S1I1S2I2).
By synthesizing a novel miktoarm block copolymer capable of cleavage of one block by ultraviolet, his group successfully fabricated dual nanopatterns consisting of dots and lines at desired regions on a single substrate. Finally, his group fabricated a high-density array of “accordion-like” plasmonic silver nanorods over a large area (~cm2) exhibiting multiple electromagnetic responses in visible and near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths. The concept of fabricating sophisticated nanoscale architectures by utilizing block copolymer self-assembly and incorporating plasmonic metals into one nanodomains could be applied to realize large-scale metamaterials working at visible and NIR wavelengths.
Prof. Kim shared his work and it will provide great inspire to our institute in the field of nanomaterials.