Morphology of symmetric block copolymer in a cylindrical pore

The influence of confinement on morphology formation in copolymer systems i s an important area of interest in theoretical research. We apply dynamic d ensity functional theory to investigate the effect of pores on the morpholo gy formation in a symmetric diblock copolymer system. The pore is represent ed by a perfect cylindrical tube. Porous systems are important in biology a nd are gaining interest for applications in nanotechnology. We show that fo r the pore sizes under investigation two equilibrium morphologies are possi ble depending on the surface interaction: a perpendicular or slab morpholog y and a parallel or multiwall tube morphology. The latter is referred to in the article as dartboard morphology. In the dynamic pathway towards this m orphology an intermediate metastable helical phase is found. An important o bservation is that, for a wide range of pore radii and variations of polyme r chain length, no mixed parallel/perpendicular morphologies were found: Al l observed morphologies are insensitive to the pore diameter. (C) 2001 Amer ican Institute of Physics.