One-Step, Continuous Method to Solvent Cast and Shear-Align Block Copolymer Thin Film Nanostructures
Block copolymers are known for their abilityto self-assemble into various nanoscale structures at size scale of 1-100nm andso are widely applicable in emerging nanotechnologies. The invention here is a blockcopolymer (BCP) thin film casting technique that simultaneously casts andaligns block copolymer thin film nanostructures in a continuous manner. Thistechnique directionally aligns BCP nanostructures while continuously bladecoating thin films by the addition of a shear-inducing flexiblepolydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) blade to a rigid blade flow coating apparatus. Theinnovation here is the one step high volume method to generate shear-alignednanostructures which are adaptable to industrial roll-to-roll processingtechniques. Compared with current shear-alignment technology, this devicecombines ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ shear components to increase the speed at whichshear forces can align, but not damage the film. The aligned nanostructures canbe produced for use in advanced nanotechnology applications requiringhighly-ordered nanostructures with dimensions of 5-100 nm.
United States
Patent Pending
美国
