Temperature-controlled formation of inverse mesophases assembled from a rod-coil block copolymer

Inverse mesophases with ordered structures self-assembled by block copolymers (BCPs) are of great use in nanomaterials. However, it was still not easy to fabricate these ordered inverse nanostructures until recently. Herein, the self-assembling temperature is controlled to regulate the formation of inverse nanostructures, including spongy structures, Pn 3&cmb.macr; m polymer cubosomes, and p 6 mm polymer hexasomes, from a rod-coil BCP for the first time. By changing the self-assembling temperature, these inverse nanostructures can be obtained controllably in a small volume fraction window. Then, a porous silica cubosome was also prepared using the polymer cubosome as a hard template. Small-angle X-ray scattering and scanning electron microscopy results confirmed that the ordered bicontinuous structure with Pn 3&cmb.macr; m symmetry was perfectly transferred to the inorganic silica cubosome. These results not only provide more details about the reason for the formation of inverse nanostructures, but also provide a facile route to prepare network-like nanomaterials. Temperature was adjusted to control the formation of inverse mesophases which can be used as templates to prepare inorganic materials.