Self-consistent field theory for diblock copolymers grafted to a sphere

Vorselaars, B., Kim, J. U., Chantawansri, T. L., Fredrickson, G. H. and Matsen, M. W. (2011) Self-consistent field theory for diblock copolymers grafted to a sphere. Soft Matter, 7 (11). pp. 5128-5137. ISSN 1744-683X doi: 10.1039/c0sm01242d

Abstract/Summary

An efficient numerical self-consistent field theory (SCFT) algorithm is developed for treating structured polymers on spherical surfaces. The method solves the diffusion equations of SCFT with a pseudospectral approach that combines a spherical-harmonics expansion for the angular coordinates with a modified real-space Crank–Nicolson method for the radial direction. The self-consistent field equations are solved with Anderson-mixing iterations using dynamical parameters and an alignment procedure to prevent angular drift of the solution. A demonstration of the algorithm is provided for thin films of diblock copolymer grafted to the surface of a spherical core, in which the sequence of equilibrium morphologies is predicted as a function of diblock composition. The study reveals an array of interesting behaviors as the block copolymer pattern is forced to adapt to the finite surface area of the sphere.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/20436
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Publisher	Royal Society of Chemistry
Download/View statistics	View download statistics for this item