The fabrication of thin films with nanopores and nanogrooves from block copolymer thin films on the neutral surface of self-assembled monolayers

Abstract

A simple and well-ordered fabrication procedure for polymeric thin films with nanopores and nanogrooves is described. By utilizing the neutral surface of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of commercially available 3-(p-methoxyphenyl) propyltrichlorosilane (MPTS), the cylindrical microdomains of PMMA of the asymmetric polystyrene-b-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA) block copolymer were oriented perpendicular to the surface due to the balanced interfacial interactions of the blocks with the surface. Thin films with perpendicularly oriented lamellae without mixed lamellae could also be fabricated by simply using a binary blend of the same asymmetric PS-b-PMMA diblock copolymer and PMMA homopolymer in the wet-brush regime up to 50% of the total PMMA weight fraction on the same neutral surface. Nanotemplates with arrays of nanopores and nanogrooves were fabricated by selective removal of PMMA domains via ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and sequential washing. SAMs of MPTS on a substrate with aluminium oxide surface were also fabricated and were used to fabricate nanoporous thin film. A thin film of PS-b-PEO with perpendicularly oriented poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) domains on the SAMs of MPTS is also demonstrated. © IOP Publishing Ltd.