Browsing by Author "Hyde, ST"

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    Liquid crystals with hierarchical ordering
    (International Conference on Neutron Scattering, 2017-07-12) de Campo, L; Moghaddam, M; Sokolova, AV; Rehm, C; Mittelbach, R; Varslot, T; Castle, T; Garvey, CJ; Kirby, N; Hyde, ST
    We present liquid crystal geometries experimentally found for star-polyphilic molecules as the basic building block. Star-polyphiles are small molecules, bearing three mutually immiscible chains attached to a common center [1,2,3]. Like conventional lipids or surfactants (that usually have two immisciblechains), such molecules self-assemble to form lamellar, hexagonal, micellar cubic and bicontinuous cubic structures. However, the presence of the third immiscible chain significantly increases structural complexity and hierarchical ordering can occur.
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    The tricontinuous 3ths(5) phase: a new morphology in copolymer melts
    (ACS Publications, 2014-10-23) Fischer, MG; de Campo, L; Kirkensgaard, JJK; Hyde, ST; Schröder-Turk, GE
    Self-assembly remains the most efficient route to the formation of ordered nanostructures, including the double gyroid network phase in diblock copolymers based on two intergrown network domains. Here we use self-consistent field theory to show that a tricontinuous structure with monoclinic symmetry, called 3ths(5), based on the intergrowth of three distorted ths nets, is an equilibrium phase of triblock star-copolymer melts when an extended molecular core is introduced. The introduction of the core enhances the role of chain stretching by enforcing larger structural length scales, thus destabilizing the hexagonal columnar phase in favor of morphologies with less packing frustration. This study further demonstrates that the introduction of molecular cores is a general concept for tuning the relative importance of entropic and enthalpic free energy contributions, hence providing a tool to stabilize an extended repertoire of self-assembled nanostructured materials. © 2014, American Chemical Society.