Surface energies and self-assembly of block copolymers on grafted surfaces

We present a theoretical analysis of the self-assembly of diblock copolymers on surfaces grafted with random copolymers. Our results demonstrate that the surface energies of homopolymeric components on grafted surfaces differ from the corresponding values for self-assembled morphologies. Moreover, grafted random copolymers are shown to adapt their conformations in response to the morphology of the overlaying block copolymer film to create chemical inhomogeneities which modulate the interfacial interactions. Consequently, the surface energy differences between the different components on the grafted substrate do not serve as a useful measure to predict the stability of self-assembly of the diblock copolymer film.