Templating of Gold Nanocrystals in Micellar Cores of Block Copolymer Films

Thin film functional hybrid materials composed of inorganic nanocrystals sequestered within a self-assembled template are important for a diverse range of applications, from sensors to device electronics. The properties of these materials can be “tailored” by control of composition over various length scales; the major processing challenges are associated with understanding and controlling external factors, such as confinement and interfacial interactions, that affect the self-organization process. Spin-cast polystyrene-b-poly(1,1‘,2,2‘-tetrahydroperflurooctyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PFOMA) diblock copolymer films can form a micellar structure, with a PFOMA core (PS corona), and are induced to undergo a transition by annealing in supercritical CO2; consequently, the PS segments form the core with a PFOMA corona. We show that functionalized Au nanocrystals, initially dispersed within the corona (the PS phase) of the micelles, follow the morphological inversion and become sequestered within the core, now compos...