Post-Fabrication Placement of Arbitrary Chemical Functionality
on Microphase-Separated Thin Films of Amine-Reactive Block Copolymers
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Abstract
We
report an approach to the post-fabrication placement of chemical
functionality on microphase-separated thin films of a reactive block
copolymer. Our approach makes use of an azlactone-containing block
copolymer that microphase separates into domains of perpendicularly-oriented
lamellae. These thin films present nanoscale patterns of amine-reactive
groups (reactive stripes) that serve as handles for the immobilization
of primary amine-containing functionality. We demonstrate that arbitrary
chemical functionality can be installed by treatment with aqueous
solutions under mild conditions that do not perturb underlying microphase-separated
patterns dictated by the structure of the reactive block copolymer.
This post-fabrication approach provides a basis for the development
of modular approaches to the design of microphase-separated block
copolymer thin films and access to coatings with patterned chemical
domains and surface properties that would be difficult to prepare
by the self-assembly and processing of functionally complex block
copolymers