Copolymers at Striped Surfaces: Coupling Effects

The domain size of chemically heterogeneous surfaces has a marked effect on the adsorption of block copolymers. Theoretical discussion of this effect is presented in the case of striped surface consisting of alternating, rectangular domains of equal width, L . Each of the stripes adsorbs only one of the block species. For a single chain the analysis concerns the in-plane, two-dimensional behaviour of the polymer. L controls the in-plane anisotropy of the adsorbed chain. In the many-chain case, L controls the adsorption mode. For large L , the adsorbed copolymers form a brush. Small L results in the formation of a self-similar layer associated with uniform adsorption. In this last regime the surface is covered by two-dimensional brushes formed at the boundaries between the surface domains.