Berlin 2024 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik
CPP 3: Crystallization, Nucleation and Self-Assembly I
CPP 3.5: Talk
Monday, March 18, 2024, 10:45–11:00, H 0110
Infrared Scanning Near-Field Spectroscopic Studies of Self-Assembled Nanostructures Based on Photo-Crosslinkable Block Copolymers — •Nadine von Coelln1, Britta Weidinger2, Christian Huck1, Irene Wacker3, Ronald Curticean3, Rasmus R. Schröder3, Eva Blasco2, and Petra Tegeder1 — 1Institute for Physical Chemistry, Heidelberg University, Germany — 2IMSEAM, Heidelberg University, Germany — 3BioQuant, Heidelberg University, Germany
Block copolymers, are materials known for their ability to self-assemble into a variety of morphologies on the nanometer scale. The self-assembly of block copolymers has been extensively investigated for 2D thin films, however, less attention has been paid to 3D bulk morphologies. In this work, long-range ordered 3D bulk morphologies of a well-defined diblock copolymer consisting of polystyrene and a methacrylate-based copolymer decorated with photo-crosslinkable units were prepared via solvent annealing. The internal lamellar or cylindrical nanostructures are studied based on infrared scanning near-field optical microscopy (IR-SNOM), which offers the unique possibility of infrared chemical imaging and spectroscopy with a spatial resolution down to around 20 nm. We demonstrate that by irradiation at an independently addressable absorption band of a polymer block, it is possible to chemically image the blocks' nano-ordered spatial arrangement. By changing which polymer block is excited, a switch of the relative optical phase, related to the local absorption, is observed, revealing a strong phase segregation via spectroscopic contrast.
Keywords: Scanning-Probe Microscopy; Near-Field; Infrared; Block Copolymer; Self-Assembly