Temperature-induced Molecular Chain Motions of Styrenic Triblock Copolymers Studied by Intrinsic Fluorescence Spectra

The temperature-induced molecular chain motions of styrenic triblock copolymers （SBC）, i.e. polysty- rene-block-polybutadiene-block-polystyrene （SBS） and polystyrene-block-poly（ethylene-co-l-butene）-block-poly- styrene （SEBS）, were studied by intrinsic fluorescence method. For SBS, the glass transition temperatures （Tgs） of B block and S block obtained by intrinsic fluorescence method were in good agreement with differential scanning calorimetry measurements （DSC）. In the case of SEBS, an isoemission point was observed at about 310 nm at ele- vated temperatures, suggesting the slight conversion between the monomer and excimer emission. On this basis, the molecular chain motion of SEBS was monitored by both fluorescence intensity and excimer/monomer fluorescence ratio. Besides the Tgs of S block and EB blocks, a melting point （Tin） of weak crystalline in EB block was unambiguously determined by intrinsic fluorescence. Furthermore, it was found that the melting process directly led to the slight loosening of PS segments in interface and consequently the reduction of the amount of excimer. A reasonable mechanism was proposed to describe the molecular chain movements and phase transitions of SEBS upon heating. Moreover, the influence of temperature on the apparent activation energy of non-radiative process （ E^T ） around Tg of S block was much stronger than that around Tg of B or EB blocks.

Detection of free surface composition and molecular-level structural development of styrene(S)/butadiene(B) block copolymer films during a solution-to-film process

The surface chemical structure development in solution-cast styrene(S)/butadiene(B) block copolymer films as a function of solvent evaporation time was investigated using sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy(SFG).The surface structure formation of the styrene(S)/butadien(B) block copolymer(30 wt% PS) films during the solution-to-film process was found to be controlled mainly by dynamic factors,such as the mobility of the PB block in solution.For SB diblock copolymers,a pure PB surface layer was formed only when the film was cast by dilute toluene solution.With increasing concentration of casting solution,PB and PS components were found to coexist on the film surface,and the morphology of the PB component on the film surface changed from cylindrical rods to spheres.For SBS triblock copolymers,a small amount of PS component existed on the surface even if the film was cast by 1.0 wt% toluene solution.In addition,PS components at the outermost layer of the film increased and the length of PB cylindrical rods on the surface decreased with increasing concentration of casting solution.