Compositional and orientational ordering in rod-coil diblock copolymer melts
Abstract
The phase behavior of a melt of monodisperse rod-coil diblocks is studied. We derive a Landau free energy functional for both a compositional and a nematic order parameter. The excluded volume interaction between the rod blocks is modeled by an attractive Maier-Saupe interaction. The incompatibility between rod- and coil blocks is modeled by the usual Flory-Huggins interaction. For a large volume fraction of the rods, a transition from isotropic to nematic to smectic C is observed upon decreasing the temperature, whereas for small rod volume fraction, spherical, hexagonal, and lamellar structures prevail. In the smectic C phase, the rod orientation angle with respect to the lamellar normal increases rapidly from 35 to 40 degrees close to the nematic/smectic-C phase boundary to values between 45 and 55 degrees.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0110143,
title = {Compositional and orientational ordering in rod-coil diblock copolymer melts},
author = {Manuel Reenders and Gerrit ten Brinke},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0110143},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
33pp. 8 figs (REVTeX). Typos in Eqs.(10), (28), and (B.36)-(B.39) corrected