Study of Onsets of Tethered Chain Overcrowding and Highly Stretched Regime of Brushes via Crystalline-Amorphous Diblock Copolymers

Well-controlled tethered polymer chains can be obtained from the solution grown single crystals of crystalline-amorphous diblock copolymers (such as PS-b-PEO and PS-b-PLLA). Based on the thickness-crystallization temperature relation, the interaction between the tethered polymer chains can be measured. The onset of chain was found as a first-order like transition at reduced tethering density near 3.7-3.8, and the onset of highly stretched brush regime was found as a high-order like transition at reduced tethering density near 15.