TY - JOUR A1 - Kathrein, Christine C. A1 - Bai, Wubin A1 - Currivan-Incorvia, Jean Anne A1 - Liontos, George A1 - Ntetsikas, Konstantinos A1 - Avgeropoulos, Apostolos A1 - Böker, Alexander A1 - Tsarkova, Larisa A1 - Ross, Caroline A. T1 - Combining Graphoepitaxy and Electric Fields toward Uniaxial Alignment of Solvent-Annealed Polystyrene-b-Poly(dimethylsiloxane) Block Copolymers JF - Chemistry of materials : a publication of the American Chemical Society N2 - We report a combined directing effect of the simultaneously applied graphoepitaxy and electric field on the self-assembly of cylinder forming polystyrene-b-poly(dimethylsiloxane) block copolymer in thin films. A correlation length of up to 20 mu m of uniaxial ordered striped patterns is an order of magnitude greater than that produced by either graphoepitaxy or electric field alignment alone and is achieved at reduced annealing times. The angle between the electric field direction and the topographic guides as well as the dimensions of the trenches affected both the quality of the ordering and the direction of the orientation of cylindrical domains: parallel or perpendicular to the topographic features. We quantified the interplay between the electric field and the geometry of the topographic structures by constructing the phase diagram of microdomain orientation. This combined approach allows the fabrication of highly ordered block copolymer structures using macroscopically prepatterned photolithographic substrates. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b03354 SN - 0897-4756 SN - 1520-5002 VL - 27 IS - 19 SP - 6890 EP - 6898 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Liedel, Clemens A1 - Lewin, Christian A1 - Tsarkova, Larisa A1 - Böker, Alexander T1 - Reversible Switching of Block Copolymer Nanopatterns by Orthogonal Electric Fields JF - Small N2 - It is demonstrated that the orientation of striped patterns can be reversibly switched between two perpendicular in-plane orientations upon exposure to electric fields. The results on thin films of symmetric polystyrene-block-poly(2-vinyl pyridine) polymer in the intermediate segregation regime disclose two types of reorientation mechanisms from perpendicular to parallel relative to the electric field orientation. Domains orient via grain rotation and via formation of defects such as stretched undulations and temporal phase transitions. The contribution of additional fields to the structural evolution is also addressed to elucidate the generality of the observed phenomena. In particular solvent effects are considered. This study reveals the stabilization of the meta-stable in-plane oriented lamella due to sequential swelling and quenching of the film. Further, the reorientation behavior of lamella domains blended with selective nanoparticles is addressed, which affect the interfacial tensions of the blocks and hence introduce another internal field to the studied system. Switching the orientation of aligned block copolymer patterns between two orthogonal directions may open new applications of nanomaterials as switchable electric nanowires or optical gratings. KW - alignments KW - block copolymers KW - electric fields KW - reorientation KW - solvent vapor annealing KW - polymers Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201502259 SN - 1613-6810 SN - 1613-6829 VL - 11 IS - 45 SP - 6058 EP - 6064 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cheng, Xiao A1 - Böker, Alexander A1 - Tsarkova, Larisa T1 - Temperature-Controlled Solvent Vapor Annealing of Thin Block Copolymer Films JF - Polymers N2 - Solvent vapor annealing is as an effective and versatile alternative to thermal annealing to equilibrate and control the assembly of polymer chains in thin films. Here, we present scientific and practical aspects of the solvent vapor annealing method, including the discussion of such factors as non-equilibrium conformational states and chain dynamics in thin films in the presence of solvent. Homopolymer and block copolymer films have been used in model studies to evaluate the robustness and the reproducibility of the solvent vapor processing, as well as to assess polymer-solvent interactions under confinement. Advantages of utilizing a well-controlled solvent vapor environment, including practically interesting regimes of weakly saturated vapor leading to poorly swollen states, are discussed. Special focus is given to dual temperature control over the set-up instrumentation and to the potential of solvo-thermal annealing. The evaluated insights into annealing dynamics derived from the studies on block copolymer films can be applied to improve the processing of thin films of crystalline and conjugated polymers as well as polymer composite in confined geometries. KW - solvent vapor annealing KW - block copolymer films KW - ellipsometry KW - guided self assembly Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/polym11081312 SN - 2073-4360 VL - 11 IS - 8 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lopez, Carlos G. A1 - Manova, Anna A1 - Hoppe, Corinna A1 - Dreja, Michael A1 - Schmiedel, Peter A1 - Job, Mareile A1 - Richtering, Walter A1 - Böker, Alexander A1 - Tsarkova, Larisa A. T1 - Combined UV-Vis-absorbance and reflectance spectroscopy study of dye transfer kinetics in aqueous mixtures of surfactants JF - Colloids and surfaces : an international journal devoted to the principles and applications of colloid and interface science ; A, Physicochemical and engineering aspects N2 - We report an analytical approach to study the competitive processes of solubilisation in micelles and of adsorption onto hydrophobic surfaces of poorly soluble hydrophobic dyes. The method is demonstrated on model systems containing two sources of Disperse Red 60: a bulk powder and a donor red textile, with molecularly dissolved dye stabilised in an aqueous environment by mixed micelles of anionic and non-ionic surfactants. The process of dye transfer between a donor textile (red polyester), surfactant micelles and an acceptor textile (white polyamide) was quantified by a combination of colorimetric analyses. UV-Vis absorbance was used to follow the extraction of the dye and to evaluate the solubilisation capacity of the micellar solution. A calibration curve for textile reflectance versus the adsorbed dye was generated to quantify the mass of dye transferred onto the acceptor textile. A combination of both techniques allowed us to compare the amount of dye desorbed from the donor textile and adsorbed onto the acceptor textile as a function of time for systems undergoing exhaustion-solubilisation mechanisms and only solubilisation mechanism. Up to similar or equal to 10 min of the washing process, the released dye is predominantly solubilised in surfactant micelles. At later times, the adsorption of the dye on the hydrophobic surface is energetically favoured. The shift of the desorption equilibrium in the presence of the acceptor textile results in similar or equal to 30% increase in the release of the dye. The reported methodology provides direct comparative analysis between the solubilisation capacity of amphiphilic stabilisers and the tendency of the dye to adsorb on solid substrates, important for designing novel concepts of disperse dye solubilisation and dye transfer inhibition during textile washing. KW - Dye transfer KW - Disperse dyes KW - Surfactants KW - Detergent KW - Colorimetric analysis KW - Washing fastness Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2018.04.024 SN - 0927-7757 SN - 1873-4359 VL - 550 SP - 74 EP - 81 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kathrein, Christine C. A1 - Bai, Wubin A1 - Nunns, Adam A1 - Gwyther, Jessica A1 - Manners, Ian A1 - Böker, Alexander A1 - Tsarkova, Larisa A1 - Ross, Caroline A. T1 - Electric field manipulated nanopatterns in thin films of metalorganic 3-miktoarm star terpolymers JF - Soft matter N2 - We report the effect of electric field on the morphological transitions and ordering behavior of polyferrocenylethylmethylsilane block (PFEMS)-containing copolymers. By analyzing structures in solvent-annealed films of metalorganic sphere-and cylinder-forming diblock copolymers, as well as of 3-miktoarm polyisoprene-arm-polystyrene-arm-PFEMS (3 mu-ISF) terpolymers, we decouple two types of responses to the electric field: morphological transformations as a result of an increase in the volume fraction of the PFEMS block by oxidation of the ferrocenyl groups, and the orientation of the dielectric interfaces of microdomains parallel to the electric field vector. In the case of 3m-ISF, the former effect dominates at high electric field strengths which results in an unexpected cylinder-to-sphere transition, leading to a well-ordered hexagonal dot pattern. Our results demonstrate multiple tunability of ordered microdomain morphologies, suggesting future applications in nanofabrication and surface patterning. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c6sm00451b SN - 1744-683X SN - 1744-6848 VL - 12 SP - 4866 EP - 4874 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Park, Sungjune A1 - Cheng, Xiao A1 - Böker, Alexander A1 - Tsarkova, Larisa T1 - Hierarchical Manipulation of Block Copolymer Patterns on 3D Topographic Substrates: Beyond Graphoepitaxy JF - Advanced materials N2 - Templates of complex nanopatterns in a form of hierarchically sequenced dots and stripes can be generated in block copolymer films on lithography-free 3D topographic substrates. The approach exploits thickness- and swelling-responsive morphological behavior of block copolymers, and demonstrates novel possibilities of topography-guided registration of nanopatterns due to periodic confinement and spontaneous orthogonal flow-fields. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201601098 SN - 0935-9648 SN - 1521-4095 VL - 28 SP - 6900 EP - + PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER -