Morphological transition during the thermal deprotection of poly(isobornyl acrylate)-b-poly(1-ethoxyethyl acrylate)
Daan Wouters1, Wim Van Camp2, Bart Dervaux2
1Laboratory of Macromolecular Chemistry and Nanoscience, Eindhoven University of Technology and Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI), P.O. Box 513, NL-5600 MB, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
A set of poly(isobornyl acrylate)--poly(1-ethoxyethyl acrylate) polymers has been prepared by atom transfer radical polymerization. The 1-ethoxyethyl protecting group can be removed by a mild thermal treatment yielding the poly(acrylic acid) segment. The thin film morphological behavior of selected block copolymers was studied for as well as deprotected block copolymers using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Low-temperature thermal treatment yielded strongly phase-separated cylindrical features whereas treatment at temperatures above the glass transition temperature of the individual polymer blocks resulted in the initial generation of a similar phase contrast followed by a decrease in phase contrast caused by selective surface enrichment of the more hydrophobic poly(isobornyl acrylate) segment.
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