LCBCPs with Covalent Interactions: Side-Chain Liquid Crystalline
Block Copolymers (SC-LCBCPs)
SC-LCBCPs can be formed by introducing SCLCPs as one of the blocks in a BCP.
Decoupling the strong influence of the mesogens on the polymer backbone showed a
remarkable influence on their phase behavior. Compared with RCBCPs, typically
SC-LCBCPs exhibit remarkable improvement in the LC ordering due to the spacers
that decouple the backbone and mesogen conformations. This decoupling effect not
only reduces the “rod-like” effect of the LC block but also contributes to a better
understanding of the mutual interplay between LC ordering and microphase separation processes. Furthermore in SC-LCBCPs, since the mesogen possesses more
flexibility, it can adopt a favorable orientation with respect to the IMDS (Fischer and
Fig. 13 (a) Schematic
representation of the stress
releasing process in the Φ N -
in-PL hierarchical structure
before (i) and after
(ii) blending with low
molecular weight PS. (b)
WAXD patterns show that the
LC ordering was dramatically
enhanced in the blend samples
with 20% and 14% PTBOS
(1, 2) compared to the pure
BCP (3) (Chen et al. 2006)
7 Structure and Assembly of Liquid Crystalline Block Copolymers
197
Block Copolymers (SC-LCBCPs)
SC-LCBCPs can be formed by introducing SCLCPs as one of the blocks in a BCP.
Decoupling the strong influence of the mesogens on the polymer backbone showed a
remarkable influence on their phase behavior. Compared with RCBCPs, typically
SC-LCBCPs exhibit remarkable improvement in the LC ordering due to the spacers
that decouple the backbone and mesogen conformations. This decoupling effect not
only reduces the “rod-like” effect of the LC block but also contributes to a better
understanding of the mutual interplay between LC ordering and microphase separation processes. Furthermore in SC-LCBCPs, since the mesogen possesses more
flexibility, it can adopt a favorable orientation with respect to the IMDS (Fischer and
Fig. 13 (a) Schematic
representation of the stress
releasing process in the Φ N -
in-PL hierarchical structure
before (i) and after
(ii) blending with low
molecular weight PS. (b)
WAXD patterns show that the
LC ordering was dramatically
enhanced in the blend samples
with 20% and 14% PTBOS
(1, 2) compared to the pure
BCP (3) (Chen et al. 2006)
7 Structure and Assembly of Liquid Crystalline Block Copolymers
197