Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 058304 (2003) [4 pages]Geometric Theory of Diblock Copolymer PhasesReceived 31 March 2003; published 31 July 2003 We analyze the energetics of spherelike micellar phases in diblock copolymers in terms of well-studied, geometric quantities for their lattices. We argue that the A15 lattice with Pm3̅ n symmetry should be favored as the blocks become more symmetric and corroborate this through a self-consistent field theory. Because phases with columnar or bicontinuous topologies intervene, the A15 phase, though metastable, is not an equilibrium phase of symmetric diblocks. We investigate the phase diagram of branched diblocks and find that the A15 phase is stable. © 2003 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.058304
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.058304
PACS:
82.35.Jk, 64.70.Md, 81.16.Dn
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