Sub-5 nm structured films by hydrogen bonded siloxane liquid crystals and block copolymers

Abstract

This paper describes the synthesis and characterization of a novel class of hydrogen-bonding oligo(dimethylsiloxane)-based thermotropic liquid crystals (LCs), with which polymeric supramolecules were obtained with glassy smectic and columnar sub-5 nm features when combined with poly(4-vinylpyridine) homopolymer or poly(styrene)-b-poly(4-vinylpyridine) block copolymer (BCP). The hierarchical self-assembly afforded by the LC/BCP complexes further resulted in the vertical orientation of the LC features in thin films.