Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.128, No.50, 16248-16252, 2006
Electrochemically controlled self-assembly of an organometallic block copolymer
A new means of controlling the order-disorder transition of block copolymers is presented. By applying small electrical potentials (2 V/cm) to disordered solutions of an organometallic block copolymer, oriented ordered grains were obtained near the positive electrode. After reversing the electrical bias on the system, the ordered grains disappeared, and new, oriented, ordered regions were formed at the opposite electrode. Our work establishes the concept of electrochemical self-assembly for controlling order formation in block copolymers.