CFN Colloquium

The self-assembly of block copolymer thin films can produce highly uniform and periodic nanopatterns across large areas, potentially changing the technological landscape for nanolithography, photon management, and porous membrane synthesis. However, slow pattern ordering and non-scalable assembly processes impede translation of promising laboratory demonstrations using block copolymers to real world technologies. In this talk, I will describe recent discoveries elucidating how blending block copolymers with low molecular weight homopolymers can reduce required assembly times by an order of magnitude or more. These homopolymers lower energy barriers to block copolymer diffusion, accelerate nanopattern reorientation, and respond synergistically with solvent vapors to help form pathway-dependent, metastable morphologies. I will also present a new CFN-developed capability for casting thin film combinatorial blend libraries of polymers and other nanomaterials by electrospray deposition. Combined with characterization methods like synchrotron X-ray scattering, this capability enables the creation of morphology-property-composition diagrams covering an entire ternary blend composition space within a single day. I will conclude the talk by presenting plans for future research inspired by this electrospray deposition capability. By integrating programmable spraying with in situ X-ray scattering and machine learning, this research will introduce an adaptive workflow for directing polymer self-assembly along specific pathways using active spray control. This workflow will ultimately be applied to the scalable synthesis-by-assembly of nanoporous membranes possessing unique functionalities.