Discovery of a Frank-Kasper sigma phase in sphere-forming block copolymer melts

Science. 2010 Oct 15;330(6002):349-53. doi: 10.1126/science.1195552.

Abstract

Sphere-forming block copolymers are known to self-assemble into body-centered cubic crystals near the order-disorder transition temperature. Small-angle x-ray scattering and transmission electron microscopy experiments on diblock and tetrablock copolymer melts have revealed an equilibrium phase characterized by a large tetragonal unit cell containing 30 microphase-separated spheres. This structure, referred to as the sigma (σ) phase by Frank and Kasper more than 50 years ago, nucleates and grows from the body-centered cubic phase similar to its occurrence in metal alloys and is a crystal approximant to dodecagonal quasicrystals. Formation of the σ phase in undiluted linear block copolymers (and certain branched dendrimers) appears to be mediated by macromolecular packing frustration, an entropic contribution to the interparticle interactions that control the sphere-packing geometry.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.