Various Thermodynamic Factors in Designing Nanostructured Materials from Block Copolymers

Here, we discuss various thermodynamic factors that affect the design of nanomaterials based on block copolymers. It is well known that the ordering behavior is determined by composition, chain size N, and the ubiquitous Flory. However, the recent discovery of ordering upon heating, immisibility loops, and baroplasticity addresses a clear need for further microscopic interpretation of such. in order to help to design nanomaterials at aimed purposes. Employing a perturbed hard sphere chain model, the molecular factors such as self and cross-interactions, free space distribution, and directional interactions are incorporated in. It is shown that not only typical ordering phenomena, but also the recent observations just mentioned are all described through this unified way.