Under the three-dimensional(3D) confinement, block copolymers(BCPs) can self-assemble into various well-ordered nanostructures, which have versatile applications in the fields of catalyst carrier, electronics, optical sensor, and so on. It is known that the nature of the BCPs as well as the internal nanostructures and the external shapes of the self-assembled materials significantly influence their properties and applications. This review introduces the recent progress in the self-assembly methods for the 3D confined self-assembly of block copolymers. The internal and external factors that affect the self-assembled structures of BCPs are also summarized. The internal factors mainly refer to the nature of BCPs, including the block type, molecular weight and block volume fraction of different blocks. The external factors include the size of confined space, the oil/water interfacial interaction, thermal or solvent annealing treatment, and so on. Moreover, the co-assembly of BCPs and inorganic nanoparticles(NPs) under 3D soft confinement is also reviewed. The morphological transition after incorporating NPs and the controllable distribution and localization of NPs within BCP matrix, as well as the potential applications of the resulting hybrid structures are discussed. Finally, open questions on this issue are discussed and prospects of this field are described.
Contents
1 Introduction
2 Self-assembly of BCPs under 3D soft confinement
2.1 Overview of the methods of the 3D soft confined self-assembly
2.2 Factors affecting the self-assembly structures
2.3 Other methods for tuning the self-assembly structures
3 Co-assembly of BCPs and NPs under 3D soft confinement
3.1 Morphological transition induced by NPs
3.2 Controllable distribution and localization of NPs in BCP matrix
4 Applications of the 3D soft confined assembly of BCPs
5 Conclusion