Self-Assembly of Polystyrene-b-poly(2-vinylpyridine)/Chloroauric Acid at the Liquid/Liquid Interface

The self-assembly of polystyrene-block-poly(2-vinylpyridine) at the liquid/liquidinterface has been systematically investigated to develop a series of primary morphologies of theaggregates. The block copolymers self-assembled into large areas of nanodot arrays, parallelnanostrands, layeredfilms, parallel nanobelts, honeycomb monolayers, and foams by reactingwith chloroauric acid, depending on the molecular structure of the block copolymers and theamount of chloroauric acid. The formation of thefirst four ordered structures resulted frominterfacial adsorption and self-assembly, and nucleation and epitaxial growth. The latter twostructures were attributed to the water hole templating effect and spontaneous interfacialemulsification, respectively. This work provides insight into the self-assembly behavior of blockcopolymers at the interface and provides a facile approach for fabricating functional structures