Title: The effect of asymmetry of the coil block on self-assembly in ABC coil-rod-coil triblock copolymers
Author(s):

	X.-G. Han (School of Science, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou 014010, China) ,
	H.-H. Meng (School of Science, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou 014010, China) ,
	Y.-H. Ma (School of Science, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou 014010, China) ,
	S.-L. Ouyang (Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory for Utilization of Bayan Obo Multi-Metallic Resources: Elected State Key Laboratory, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou 014010, China)

Using the self-consistent field approach, the effect of asymmetry of the coil block on the microphase separation is focused in ABC coil-rod-coil triblock copolymers. For different fractions of the rod block f_B, some stable structures are observed, i.e., lamellae, cylinders, gyroid, and core-shell hexagonal lattice, and the phase diagrams are constructed. The calculated results show that the effect of the coil block fraction f_A is dependent on f_B. When f_B=0.2, the effect of asymmetry of the coil block is similar to that of the ABC flexible triblock copolymers; When f_B=0.4, the self-assembly of ABC coil-rod-coil triblock copolymers behaves like rod-coil diblock copolymers under some condition. When f_B continues to increase, the effect of asymmetry of the coil block reduces. For f_B=0.4, under the symmetrical and rather asymmetrical conditions, an increase in the interaction parameter between different components leads to different transitions between cylinders and lamellae. The results indicate some remarkable effect of the chain architecture on self-assembly, and can provide the guidance for the design and synthesis of copolymer materials.

Key words: self-consistent field theory, rod-coil block copolymer, self-assembly
PACS: 61.25.Hp, 64.75.+g, 82.60.Fa

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