A New Perspective for Nanoconfined Polymer Crystals

Abstract

Nanoporous hard templates provide a two-dimensional confined space in which self- organization processes such as crystallization, protein secondary structure formation, and phase separation can be fundamentally different from those obtained in thin films and in bulk. A particular advantage of hard templates is that they provide a range of parameter space (pore diameter, curvature, nature of pore walls) that can induce or manipulate nucleation and crystal growth. Nowadays, a broad range of soft materials can be formed into nanotubes utilizing nanoporous hard templates containing arrays of self-ordered cylindrical nanopores. Understanding the crystallization, thermodynamics, and dynamics of soft materials under confinement allows for their rational design as functional devices with tunable mechanical strength, processability, and electronic and optical properties. The principal focus of this lecture is finding the basic underlying principles that give rise to nucleation and crystal growth in a range of soft materials (crystallizable polymers, amphiphilic molecules, liquid crystals, low-molecular-weight liquids, and biopolymers) under hard confinement. The confining geometry is also important since curvature affects Laplace pressure. In this context, we provide a detailed analysis of the impact of compartmentalization, space, curvature, interfacial interaction, and molecular weights on the nano-crystallization process.