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Hiroshi Jinnai, Takeshi Higuchi, Xiaodong Zhuge, Akihito Kumamoto, Kees Joost Batenburg, Yuichi Ikuhara, 2S-A1-4
Soft Material Electron Tomography, Microscopy, Volume 66, Issue suppl_1, 1 November 2017, Page i12, https://doi.org/10.1093/jmicro/dfx052Close - Share Icon Share
Extract
Self-assembling structures of block copolymers (BCPs) and their dynamical processes in polymeric systems have been investigated using electron tomography [1]. Nanoscale periodic structures of BCPs have become increasingly complicated with advances in precision polymerization, hence, electron tomography is now an essential tool for studying BCP structures [2] not only in their static morphologies but also during dynamical processes called order-order transitions (OOTs) where BCP nanostructures transform from one type of structure to another upon changing temperature or pressure.
In an OOT between the bicontinuous double gyroid and hexagonally packed cylindrical structures, two different types of epitaxial phase transition paths were found [3], which interestingly depend on the direction of the OOT [4]. Although OOTs are dynamical processes, the actual experiment is done in the static state, through a detailed morphological study of a snapshot taken during the OOT. Thus, developing time-dependent nanoscale 3D imaging has become a hot topic. The two main problems preventing the development of in situ electron tomography in particular for polymer materials are discussed.
