Self-Seeding Procedure for Obtaining Stacked Block Copolymer Lamellar Crystals in Solution

We examined the formation of self-seeded platelet-like crystals from polystyrene-block-polyethylene oxide (PS-b-PEO) diblock copolymers in toluene as a function of polymer concentration ([Formula: see text]), crystallization temperature ([Formula: see text]), and self-seeding temperature ([Formula: see text]). We showed that the number ([Formula: see text]) of platelet-like crystals and their mean lateral size ([Formula: see text]) can be controlled through a self-seeding procedure. As (homogeneous) nucleation was circumvented by the self-seeding procedure, [Formula: see text] did not depend on [Formula: see text]. [Formula: see text] increased linearly with [Formula: see text] and decayed exponentially with [Formula: see text] but was not affected significantly by the time the sample was kept at [Formula: see text]. The solubility limit of PS-b-PEO in toluene ([Formula: see text] *), which was derived from the linear extrapolation of [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] 0 and from the total deposited mass of the platelets per area [Formula: see text]), depended on [Formula: see text]. We have also demonstrated that at low [Formula: see text] , stacks consisting of a (large) number ([Formula: see text]) of uniquely oriented lamellae can be achieved. At a given [Formula: see text] , [Formula: see text] was controlled by [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] as well as by [Formula: see text]. Thus, besides being able to predict size and number of platelet-like crystals, the self-seeding procedure also allowed control of the number of stacked lamellae in these crystals.