EPJ E Colloquium: Self-consistent field theory of multicomponent wormlike-copolymer melts

Details

Published on 03 October 2016

The self-consistent field theory (FCFT) is a convenient theoretical tool to describe the ordered structures of copolymer melts. It supports the current understanding of many polymeric systems. In a new EPJ E Colloquium Ying Jiang and colleagues showcase the versatility and power of the wormlike-chain formalism for calculating the microphase-separated crystallographic structures of multi-component wormlike polymers.

The approach is based on a self-consistent field theory of wormlike polymers, where the persistence length of each component is an important parameter. The article’s emphasis is on an analysis of the minimum number of independent parameters required to specify a problem for a system that includes Flory-Huggins and Maier-Saupe energies. The success of this formalism in capturing the structure of basic polymer systems is exemplifies through its application to AB homopolymer interfaces, AB diblock copolymers, and rod-coil copolymers.

With this Colloquium the authors wish to inspire and encourage further structural determinations of other wormlike polymer mixtures, in which the polymer semiflexibility is considered a tuning parameter.