Curvature-Driven Rigid Nanowire Orientation inside Nanotube Walls

Self-aligning of a rigid hard domain nanowire inside the nanotube wall has been found for a segmented block copolymer, and applicability of the attenuated total reflection (ATR) technique of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to obtain quantitative three-dimensional orientation information of the nanowires in the nanotube has been demonstrated. The preferential orientation of a nanowire along a nanocylinder is explained in terms of the curvature of the nanotube and the persistence length of the hard domain nanowire. This observation may pave the way to new fabrication methods for the anisotropic performance of one-dimensional structures, such as electrical conductivity, piezoelectricity, and photonic properties of polymeric nanofibers and nanotubes.