Dot Nanopattern Self-Assembled from Rod-Coil Block Copolymer on Substrate

Nanoscale dot patterns are important in various fields. However, it is still a challenge to fabricate ordered nanopatterns on substrates through a polymer self-assembly approach. In this work, it is reported that polypeptide-based rod-coil block copolymers can self-assemble into surface micelles on substrates, thus forming dot nanopatterns. The size of the surface micelles is readily adjusted by the degree of the polymerization of the block copolymers. It is found that most of the surface micelles are in a sixfold coordinated lattice, indicating an ordered array feature. Defects such as fivefold coordination arrays and sevenfold coordination arrays are also observed, which are derived from the nonuniform size of the micelles and the existence of nonspherical micelles. The experimental findings are well modelled by dissipative particle dynamics theoretical simulations, and the simulations provide more detailed information, such as the packing manner of the polymer chain in the surface micelles.