Towards smart self-assembly of colloidal silica particles through diblock copolymer crystallization
An innovative associative strategy, crystallization-driven self-assembly, is discussed for hybrid inorganicorganic materials. We report the use of a semicrystalline poly(butadiene)-b-poly(ethylene oxide)(PB-b-PEO) diblock copolymer (BCP) that self-assembles with silica nanoparticles (NPs) in a selective solvent. In ethanol, at 60 degrees C, that is above the melting temperature T-m of the PEO bloc