Nanostructured Morphologies by Self-Assembly of Diblock Copolymers: A Review

Due to the thermodynamic incompatibility between blocks, diblock copolymers can self‐assemble in a wide variety of nanostructures, covalent linkage among blocks preventing the phase separation at macroscopic scale. Those nanostructures depend on copolymer composition (f), Flory‐Huggins interaction parameter among both blocks (χ), and polymerization degree of the copolymer (N). Thin films of block copolymers can show different equilibrium morphologies such as spheres, cylinders, gyroids, and lamellas. Besides mentioned parameters, film preparation process (substrate, annealing process if any) and used solvent will determine self‐assembled morphology. In the present review, the most important morphologies or microstructures obtained for different diblock copolymer films are presented, as well as the most important phase transitions among them. Different microstructures and the way in which they can be obtained become of great importance, as they could be used as templates for nanoparticle deposition, nanolithography, or nanopatterned materials with several potential applications in different fields such as nanoelectronics or nanomedicine.