Abstract
This work presents an approach to achieve controlled ordering of polystyrene-block-poly(l-lactide) (PS-PLLA) gyroid thin films on a neutral substrate using solvent annealing. Interesting morphological evolution from gyroid to cylinder can be found while using a partially selective solvent for the PS block to anneal the PS-PLLA thin film. To acquire a thin-film sample with thermodynamically stable gyroid morphology, a nonpreferential solvent should be used for solvent annealing to enable controlled ordering of gyroid thin film with the (211) G plane parallel to the air surface and also the functionalized substrate. By taking advantage of degradable character of the PLLA block, nanoporous PS with well-defined texture can be fabricated by hydrolysis and used as a template for synthesis of various nanohybrids and nanoporous materials. © 2013 American Chemical Society.