Evaluation of Nano-Phase-Separated Structures of Block Copolymers Containing Liquid-Crystalline Oligothiophene Segment

Abstract

Block copolymers, having dissimilar polymers connected by covalent bond, form various nanoscale morphologies by self-organization and microphase separation. Among them, block copolymers containing liquid crystal such as azobenzene are known to exhibit cylinder structures.1 In this study, we prepared block copolymers composed of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and liquid-crystalline oligothiophene moieties in the side chain. We investigated the nano structure of these polymers by atomic force microscopy (AFM) after annealing and observed the perpendicular cylinder structures of PEO with a size of 10-20 nm.