The innovation engine for new materials

Mizuki Kamata

Mizuki Kamata

University: 

Tokyo Institute of Technology

Major: 

Chemical Science and Engineering

Mentor(s): 

Joshua Lequieu

Faculty Sponsor(s): 

Glenn Fredrickson

Faculty Sponsor's Department: 

Chemical Engineering

Project Title: 

Computational Approach Towards the Design of Complex Morphologies in Triblock Copolymer Melts

Project Description: 

Block copolymers are all around us. Since self-assembling block copolymers form well-ordered nanostructures, they have been applied to a wide variety of products such as adhesive tape, asphalt additives and coatings. Simple diblock copolymers (AB-type materials) have been researched extensively, yet only a handful of relatively simple morphologies have been found. Multiblock copolymers exhibit much more complicated phase behavior and are much less understood. Here, I focus on triblock terpolymer melts (ABC- type materials) and find globally stable morphologies by using Self Consistent Field Theory (SCFT). Using SCFT, we have found several new phases such as cylinder packings with the p3m1 and p4gm space groups and the CsCl and NaCl phases. The complex morphologies associated with triblock copolymers can lead to new and exciting further applications such as photonic crystals or advanced membranes. These predictions will be used to guide future experiments performed in research groups here at UCSB. This combination of experiments and field-theoretic simulations will also provide further understanding of unique morphologies of self-assembling block copolymers.