Electrochemical Manipulation of Aligned Block Copolymer Templates

Block copolymers have a wide range of functions in advanced electrochemistry because of their ability to self-assemble into ordered nanometer-sized structures, resulting in their extensive usage as nanoporous templates that can be electrochemically manipulated. These highly ordered nanoporous templates are used as working electrodes for electrodeposition and electropolymerization to build nanoelectrode arrays and can serve as models to study the diffusion pathway of redox-active units with regard to chemical modification of pores. The block copolymer system allows different morphologies to be utilized, but the most exploited structures are standing cylinders of the minority block that are etched to expose highly aligned porous nanoelectrode array templates. This review starts with introducing alumina and track-etched membranes as pioneer porous templates transitioning to the production of block copolymer films as succeeding templates, with a particular focus on both poly(styrene)-block-poly(methylmethacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA) and poly(styrene)-block-poly(lactide) (PS-b-PLA). The aim is to give fundamental insights of electrochemistry where functionality extends beyond to applications in the nanoscience field of biosensors and plastic electronics.